tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13569810681790192312018-03-05T07:55:34.786-08:00Overheard in 中学校kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-16150845051254019442012-03-04T22:19:00.000-08:002012-03-04T22:19:07.862-08:00Appologies<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Hey guys,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Sorry I’ve been so sparse lately… but I have sad news for you, I think the end of this blog is coming shortly. Actually, I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it on here before, but some of you might know that I am quitting my job here. It’s been planned for a long time and I am leaving at the end of the school year, but for Japan, that time is now. The last couple of weeks have been slightly whirlwindy, with everything revolving around leaving this job, finding a new one, and moving… nevermind an impending trip back home to Canada… which means that this week is actually my last week of classes here. I’m not sure if I’m gonna have the time or the mind to update on the going-ons or the sappiness of whatever happens this week, so I’m gonna leave you with some golden tidbits that some of the kids wrote me after the last music class we had together last week. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aaah… look at the spelling grammar on these… T_T yay for good English teaching, eh? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Miyu from 3-4 writes “we could listen many English songs. I feel happy. Tankyou for an year to”… to…?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Mio from 3-4 wrote “I love Vanessa. You’s class is very enjoy! Thank you very much! &lt;3”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">From Shiomi, the ultimate too-cool-for-school brat in 3-4 “I’m very hungry today. See you Vanessa, thank you!” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And then when you didn’t manage to teach them any English at all…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Mayu from 3-5 “</span><span style="font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Century; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: Century; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">今までありがとうございました。</span><span lang="EN-US">&lt;3 </span><span style="font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Century; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: Century; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">バネッサ</span><span lang="EN-US">love!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Kodai from 3-5 wrote, “thank you for teaching English for a year. Overseas culture is very nice.” lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">From Shuusuke (the future hipster) about the No Doubt lesson “this song is my favorite song. Her voice is very cool!! I like it!! I want to listen to another her songs. Thank you very much!!” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Yuta from 3-5, about the No Doubt lesson : “soul is hit! I like nice song” lol. sound like something that would go on a t-shirt.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">From Kazusa (who is a boy… he has a weird name, I know…) “I think this song is broken heart story. This class is last. Thank you for teaching somethings. I had a good time in this class”. awww… I know I never talk about him, but I quite like that kid. He’s really quiet and has really really black hair, and big giant eyebrows. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">From Saki, 3-5 “I can understand listening more than before. I like this song. English class was interesting. Thank you (*^w^*)!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This one made me laugh… from little “ganguro” Haruka (also, a boy) “this song is sung by my mother in </span><span style="font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Century; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: Century; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">カラオケ</span><span lang="EN-US">”. Wait what? Your mother likes No Doubt?! Cool!! also, that means your mom is probably around my age… which is depressing… T_T</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aaaand, that’s it! they’re the only two classes that I actually got to tell that I was leaving, so they’re the only ones that had goodbye comments on their papers… </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Oh and fun fact, when I told Bad Ryota I was leaving, he was like “EEEEH?!?! MAJI??!!?!?!” and basically “but you’re gonna come back for the farewell ceremony, right??!” (all in Japanese, of course…) and I was really taken aback because, seriously, that kid has been the bane of my existence (and every other teacher’s) for at least half the year… since when have you loved me so much?! lol. but I was really touched and it made me go “aaaawww….”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I will most definitely be crying at the farewell ceremony!!</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-75734495615265617232012-02-16T21:53:00.001-08:002012-02-16T21:53:48.391-08:00Bits and Pieces<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Sorry, there’s been some stuff happening in my personal life recently, and keeping up with the blog has kinda been the last thing on my mind… here are some bits and bobs that I remember happening over the last 2 weeks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Last week Monday, when I was feeling super down in the dumps and heading to my first class trying not to cry, Ryohei (3-5) fell into step next to me, with his little friend behind him going “go on!” in Japanese, and blurted out, super randomly, in perfect English “will you be my friend?” I just stared at him for a second completely dumbfounded and then smiled and answered “sure” and he high-fived his friend and ran off to P.E. class. I just kept walking, giggling to myself. I wanted to cry, but this time of happiness. These kids really are a blessing to me sometimes, especially when bad things happen in my personal life. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Just before class with 3-2, the following day, Daisuke asked me for valentine’s day chocolates. lol. I told him that I wouldn’t give him any and he was like “pu-lease, please!” and I laughed and said that if I gave him any, I would have to give some to all the other boys too and I was poor”. He winked at me and whispered “only me”. I shook my head, laughing, and said finally that if I gave him any the other teachers would yell at me. Then he leaned in, a finger over his lips and went “secret!” lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I had class with 1-4 at one point and they were being really loud. Particularly this one group of boys at the back, which included two of my faves, Atsuhiro and Akira-chan. The unit they are studying now talks about monkeys (bonobos and chimps) and one of the vocabulary word was “human”. So when I said it, for the bingo game, I was walking on their side and waved at them “you are not humans!” and Atsuhiro went “yes, yes, human!” and I said “no, no, no… you are monkeys!” and all the others laughed while he was trying to deny being a monkey. Then Akira-chan bent over and said “monkey leader!” pointing to Atsuhiro. lol. Really not too sure what that was about, but it went on for a while and then we continued playing the game. After class had ended and I was packing my stuff, the two of them came over and I said “bye monkeys!” and Atsuhiro said again he wasn’t a monkey, and I laughed, shaking my head to mean he was wrong. He pointed to Akira and asked “what about him?” in Japanese, to which I answered “of course, he’s a monkey too. Kinda looks a little bit like a monkey too.” and right then, Akira made this totally priceless face an went “hook! hook!” raising his shoulders with each squeak, and I was just pissing myself laughing. That kid is much too cute. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Now, this week, when I walked into 3-6 class for sentaku English, Taisei and Jumpei were huddled near the windows, trying to soak up the sunlight’s warmth because it’s freakin’ cold. I was focused on unpacking my crap, but then I noticed I could hear singing. I turned around and asked Taisei “are you singing?!” to which Jumpei answered, completely not understanding my question “Tohoshinki!” and I just kinda raised my eyebrows at them. Tohoshinki? Really? Only in Japan would two 15y.o. “cool boys” admit to listening to and even liking a boyband… oh Japan… Anyhoo, we spent a few minutes chatting about which songs we liked, and then they laughed at me when I said I liked “Stand by U”. What’s wrong with that song?!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In 3-2, a girl who pretty much never never talks to me came to ask me what my boob size was at the end of class. Now up until recently, I’d always answered this question with “they don’t have my size in Japan”, but a little while ago, I was bored waiting for my bf to show up and killing time shopping, I wandered into a lingerie shop and decided to see if I could find some that fit. Well, I did. A helpful little shop-girl found me some (super hideous) giant sized bras that I tried on just for kicks and now know that I am a Japanese size H or I. lol. I think they just have such a variety of “sizes” (it’s all just padding anyways) to make themselves feel better about having no tits. Anyways, so I tell the girl “I’m a size H” cuz I felt kinda bad for her and I thought “she’s a girl, what’s the harm?” and then she started counting on her fingers, nodding to herself, and wandered off back to her friends. Huh? What was that about?!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Oh, and Daisuke also came over to pester me about chocolates again (this was on the actual day of valentine’s day) and we were arguing back and forth and the thing that finally shut him up was when I said “you’re not my boyfriend”. He looked thoughtful, nodded, and said “aaaah…” lol. Then he looked at me hopefully going “tomo-choco?” lol!</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-29864118420113628652012-02-13T22:55:00.000-08:002012-02-13T22:55:19.107-08:00Week of January 30th to February 2nd<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4 classes back to back in the morning. That sucked. I showed up to school thinking I had 3 classes (like I was supposed to) but then saw (and remembered) that I had 4<sup>th</sup> period with Aoshima-sensei as well. FML. That killed my good mood right away. THEN the printer reaaaally seemed to have a death-wish cuz it kept fucking up my copies and I didn’t manage to finish printing everything on time and I was late for first period (1-7 with Aoshima, which DID NOT help my mood either) anyhow, all my classes were good though. Even class with 1-3 was sort of okay, and remember that girl who just refuses to do anything and play every single game and just stands there with that weird face like she’s trying to ignore the world around her. Well. That kid can draw as well as any professional manga artist. I made them “invent a super hero” in class and that’s the first time I’ve ever seen her do anything. huh. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So I had first year classes, and 3<sup>rd</sup> year sentaku classes, and this week, for sentaku, I am doing a lesson on the Spice Girls. Now, not only did I have huge fun planning this lesson, but it was very nostalgic for me, so I was really curious about how the kids were going to react to them. Well, I know 3-3 and 3-6 are both good groups, but they both loved it! Which made me so happy. In 3-6, that girl (I’m so bad I can’t remember her name…) who was pestering me about my boyfriend last week was at it again, insisting that I show her puri of my bf and also asking me a bunch of questions about make-up. It was really cute. I told her and her friend, after class, to come see me in the staffroom after lunch, and I would show them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And sure enough, they dutifully showed up 5 minutes after the end-of-lunch bell and I grabbed my bag and went outside with them. We spent 20 minutes on the front steps of school, chatting and looking through my purikura (you’ve seen Samantha’s blog, right? there’s a LOT. lol). They kept going “moderu mitai!” (you look like a model!) and “iiii naaaa~ otona ni naritai!” (I wanna be an adult. being an adult must be so nice!) and I was like “kid, I wish I could switch with you!” and we laughed. It was actually, I think, one of the best moments in my 3 years at this school. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 2-2. I decided to fuck all pretense of actually doing anything while Shigeki-sensei is lecturing, and brought some stuff to grade at the back of the class while he talked. Made class go much faster, and it’s gonna reduce the giant pile of things to check that’s been piling up on my desk recently. This is what happens when you give me days with 4 and 5 classes in a row, you stupid fucks… even when I do have the afternoon off, I’m too tired to do anything afterwards… but nevermind. 2-2 went well, with two funny occurrences. The first was that, when I asked for volunteers to demo my game, like 10 kids got out of their chairs (they’re not usually that eager) and the little posse of goody-brat-boys (composed of Toshiki 1 and 2, Tetchan and the other one… what’s his name… Koki :p) ruled supreme over the others who bowed down to their superiority and let them come play. The second thing was me going up to Atsuya, who looked tired and depressed and I asked “not genki today?” and he went “sagepoyo. Today, not agepoyo” in a kinda sad voice. lol!!! I was under the impression that “agepoyo” was a really gyaru thing? Maybe not, or maybe it’s mainstreaming, but Atsuya is this tiny goody-goody boy who doesn’t look badass for a minute, so it was just really funny for me to hear him say that :p&nbsp; I guess I shouldn’t laugh cuz he was probably broken-hearted or something, but it was just such an odd occurrence!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period was 2-1 and passed by quickly since I repeated the same “I’m grading papers” gimmick. I did spend a few moments teasing Wataru at the back, cuz I just can’t help it. He’s much too cute. When I have babies, they better all look like Wataru. When I asked for volunteers for my game demo, first, Rei stood up, and then nobody else. I was like “come on!” and then Masaki, this cute, shy little kid with a changing voice stood up and everyone went “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhh?!? Masaki?!” and laughed a bit, which I guess wasn’t super nice but he didn’t let it phase him and trotted up front while I bullied two more boys into joining us. He then did the demo like a pro. Huge props to that kid, he seems really shy, but he always tries so hard ^_-</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Theeeeeen!!!! I found out that Mizushima-sensei is absent today! (I really shouldn’t be this happy about it since I heard it’s because someone in his family died….) so my class with 2-3 was moved! Which gives me a lovely break right now! yatta!! You know, it makes all the difference between a crappy 5 classes day and this… now I’m super looking forward to my next two classes. ^_^</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was with 3-2, and since Mizushima-sensei was absent, I had to do it on my own. Yabe-sensei showed up to check on things for about 20 minutes, then he left. But they were sooooo good. At the beginning of the class, I joked that they should be extra good since I was alone, but they really were! Not that I ever have any trouble with 3-2, but you know. Again, the reaction was pretty good, which made me happy. Nothing I can remember too much except that during the break before class, Ryohei from 3-5 was sitting at a desk in the back and going “hi” and I’m like “you’re not in this class” and he goes “what?! I am a member of sannen-ni-kumi (class 3-2)” and laughed. Then Dan showed up and pointed to him and said “he is good English ability” and I said “I know”. Ryohei nodded and said “yes” so I said “yeah!” and held my hand for a highfive and he slapped it, looking all chuffed. Dan was saying “me too. Good English, yes?” and I made a face at him and said “… so-so” which made Ryohei laugh.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Ah man, I really wish I wasn’t so tired…. class with 3-1 was really good, and Minami was priceless as usual, but I really can’t remember specifics… but actually, when I walked into class, a lot of students were really confused and saying things like “eh? we have sentaku now?!” and the best reaction goes to Kousuke who – when he realized that I wasn’t the one who was confused – clapped his hands together and let out a huge “YOSSSSSSSSSSSSH!!!” followed by something along the lines of “sentaku is sooo much better!” in Japanese, so I asked him what class he thought he had and (after much haggling to get my meaning across) he told me it was regular English. lol. Although I guess, grammar class with Hasegawa-sensei really CAN’T compare with my awesome lesson on the Spice Girls. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This was another day where I was really busy and didn’t really have time to write anything down, so I forgot it… Nevermind that I was also REALLY tired… I do remember that I wanted to throttle Ryota (in 3-4) though, but what else is new? His thing today was that he kept repeating the word “chikubi” over and over… that means “nipples” in Japanese btw, and it was sooooo annoying… I basically realized that he was using it to mean “boobs” in the same way we’d say “tits” in English, I suppose, because we were doing the spice girls lesson and some of the pictures of the girls had plungeing necklines…. apparently Shun likes big boobs and Ryota and the others kept taunting him about it. When we had extra time at the end and I asked if they wanted to watch another video, Ryota shouted (in Japanese, of course) “YESS!!! Shun wants to see more tits!!” …. -_-</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Not really in a great mood today, so classes were kind of a blur… I had my super-hero lesson with 1-6 and then 1-4 and it went fine, except that NOT ONE SINGLE KID in 1-4 knew who Sailor Moon was!!!! I mean I know it’s a bit old, but most of the kids in the other classes all knew who she was… minding blown. Also, I feel old. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was 2-5 and they were perfect little troopers, as usual, and really into the pokemon game. Nothing really special happened. Sorry this was such a boring day :p</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Some little ichinensei girls were following me around earlier and talking about me in Japanese, saying “Vanessa sensei is so fashionable! Look at her cute shu-shu!” which made me laugh… cuz, since when is a scrunchie fashionable?? But I guess if you compare me to the other teachers…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Also, I feel I should mention something : it is freakishly COLD here. Now, unless you have yourself worked as an ALT in Central Japan, you are probably not aware of this but, schools are NOT HEATED in the winter here. And not only that, but teachers are constantly opening all the windows, all over the school, because they believe that you need to “change the air” in order for the kids to not catch the flu. Ironically, there are way more sick kids here every winter than I’ve ever seen in Canada, and yet, when I mention this little fact to them, it flies right over their heads and they just go “WE MUST OPEN THE WINDOWS MORE!!!!” anyways… So my point is, it’s basically the same temperature inside school as it is outside. And these days, the temperature is hovering around or below zero, so you can imagine how fun that is!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The only place in the school that is actually heated is the staffroom. It’s lucky for me, but incredibly stupid, I feel, because it’s like admitting that you DO need heat, but you’re too cheap to give it to the students. It just baffles me beyond belief. Heating the school is too expensive, and yet, they’re always shelling out tons of money for people to come and trim the trees on the school grounds and plant flowers, etc. How the heck does that make any sense?!?!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">But anyways, I could go on for hours on this topic, so I’ll shut up now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Have a good weekend!</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-22426202758718300612012-02-02T23:05:00.000-08:002012-02-02T23:05:05.303-08:00Week of January 23rd to 27th<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aaah, please forgive me for skipping last week. When my schedule is so packed like it’s been recently (and will be for the rest of the year, from the looks of it), I don’t have time to sit down and write what happened in each class, and after so many classes, it just flies right out of my head. </span><span style="font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Century; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: Century; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">もしあけございません～</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period was with 1-6, which I had just last Friday. As I walked into the classroom, Hiroki (tiny, really genki little boy) ran up to me and went “sushi sticker??!” That’s his thing. See, one time, I bought some sushi stickers from LOFT to give away as prizes, and when they ran out, all hell came loose as apparently, they were such a huge hit. I went back to the store to get more, but they were out that time, to the great disappointment of the kiddies. Then I went again in December, and lo-and-behold, sushi stickers! So I bought like 2 packs. But now, every time I walk into the class, that one kid always jumps on me to ask if I have sushi stickers, and every time I say “yes” and he goes “yosh!!” lol. Cutest thing ever. I swear to god, he’s not even 3 feet tall… He’s so tiny… But anyways, I didn’t really get to do a game with the kids today cuz Yuka wanted them to do a writing activity, but she made me do a time killer game while she went to photocopy the papers. It was over in 5 minutes and when Yuka started talking, Hiroki went “Vanessa Game owatta? sushi sutikaaaaaaa….” with this super sad face… lol. Aww.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then the next period was 2-4, which was rather uneventful. Something was wrong with Masaya… I think he may be sick cuz he was absent last week, and now he had huuuuge bags under his eyes. He couldn’t even muster up the strength to insult me. Poor thing. Then we played the pokemon game, which was a huge hit, even with the “I’m too cool for school” little clique that sits at the back. Win.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was regular English with 3-1, and we had to do a writing activity and something from their textbook, but it actually went quite well. Minami (who now sits right at the front by the teacher’s desk) was super awake (really rare) and trying really hard to guess the answers. I also had a fun little chat with Nami and Seiya at the back, about if it was my real hair and eye colors (you would think this would get old, right? but no…) and I even managed to make Seiya write his paper!!! I think I’m growing on him! And then I had pretty much a repeat of the hair conversation with Yuka and Nichika while I was trying to get him to write… Yuka kept petting my hair and saying it was soft, and Nichika was like “really? Isn’t it damaged?” lol! And she goes “no, here!” and he starts petting my hair too and goes “honta da!” … gotta love how educational my English lessons are, eh? :p But actually, I was quite pleased because everyone (minus Nichika…) managed to finish before the bell, AND wrote quite a decent amount of sentences! This never happens! They usually always try to just half-ass it, saying it’s too hard or just not bothering… so I’d say this was a success!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Ok, I’m grading the Hairspray papers now, and a bunch of kids in 3-3 wrote “very very international!” in the comments… wtf?! I’m not sure exactly what they meant by that… Actually, it wasn’t very international, cuz it was only black and white people in it… no Asians, no Indians, no anything else… I think someone *coughJTEcough* must have fed them the word, but they’re not using it correctly….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-7, which started off on the wrong foot as Aoshima-sensei promptly announced that he wanted to switch Wednesday’s 4<sup>th</sup> period class (note, a day where I only have 3, nicely spread out classes) to next Monday 4<sup>th</sup> period. I was pretty cranky cuz I already have periods 1-2-3 on Monday, which means I’ll have to teach the whole morning without breaks and I hate that. On top of it he was like “I have already checked your schedule and I know you’re not teaching this period”. What was I gonna say? No? blergh. Plus, it means I’ll see that one class twice in the same week. meh, whatever. Class itself went fine though, spent most of it making faces at Ryunosuke. :p</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period was regular English with 3-5 and it was pretty boring. Ryohei was sleeping on his desk and I kept having to poke him awake.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was 3-2, regular English, and just before class started, Daisuke ran over and proudly showed me this one page from his juku English textbook that was basically all English. He went “look, look! long, long!” so I asked “can you understand everything?” and he gave me a huge grin with a super confident “yes!” before running back to his seat. lol. Class went fine, chatted a bit with Dan and Kota as usual, and Dan kept dicking around. He kept turning in his chair to talk with the chubby kid behind him. At one point when I was walking over, he pointed to that boy and went “crying”, and I asked “why is he crying? Did you make him cry?” and after a bit of rewording he went “yes!” and then thinking super hard to form the sentence correctly “I make… no… made he… him, cry” with a huge smile. lol. Oh and Kota wrote at the end of his mini-essay “I want to go to X high school to study Japanese history more”. I was kinda impressed so I asked “oh really?” and he waved his hand at me and grinned “no.” and then in Japanese, “but it sounds nice, don’t you think?” LOL! little smart ass…. :p</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then just now, I ran into those two again, along with Kazuma, who were huddled in front of the nurse’s office, NOT cleaning (it was cleaning time) so I went to chide them a little and Kazuma was like “HEY!” waving a hand at me. I saw that he had this hokkairo with stuff written on it so I wanted him to give it to me but he refused. Then he made me janken for it and I lost. So I left. To the sound of their giggles. It kinda cracks me up though that Kazuma seems to really like me. He hates school, and hates English, and is always bumming around, but every time he sees me in the hall he always says hi, and if I’m talking to his friends he always tries to butt-in and make them translate for him. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So. Aoshima-sensei apparently has a gift for pissing me off first thing in the morning. Today is the day when he told me 4<sup>th</sup> period was cancelled to switch it to next Monday, so when I came in, I was expecting having only my two morning classes, and that was actually fine by me since I’m recovering from a migraine that isn’t completely gone… but no… When I walked into class this morning, he came up to me and went “sorry. I made a mistake. The cancelled class is next week. So please come 4<sup>th</sup> period.” urgh! Will you fucking stop messing with my head please?? And if you must, can’t you at least have the decency to tell me before I walk into the classroom? I saw him in the staffroom this morning when I arrived and he said nothing to me. Anyways, it’s just common sense, no? I guess not. *sigh*</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">But anyhow, class with 1-1 went well. The kids where really into the second game, which involved asking other team members original questions. Now this is a game that can BOMB horribly if it’s played in a weak/quiet class, but I was happy it worked so well with them. In one team, I walked by while one kid was trying to think of a “do you like~” question, so I said “do you like me?” (as in, replace ’me’ with the kid’s name, not mine) and they all cracked up when he did and the other kid said no. But then, I stuck around a bit and they were all asking each other “do you like so-and-so?” using names of friends in the class. lol. I’d unleashed a monster.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After that I had class with 2-1, who were surprisingly well-behaved, but that could just be because there were about 6 kids absent from class cuz of influenza, although all my biggest brats were still there. Mostly I was just dicking around with Wataru at the back of the class. At one time, Shigeki-sensei asked the kids to answer “who is the xx-est in your family questions” and I asked Wataru “who is the cutest in your family? you?” and he went “no! no! no!” lol. and then Nanase, a girl in front of him in the next row pointed to him and said “he is bocchan!” and they all started laughing and he was denying it vehemently. I had to ask cuz I didn’t know what it meant and apparently it means “rich kid”, then Yuki (the kid in front) turned around, pointed to another kid at the back of the class and went “he is bouzu-chan” and we all cracked up. Indeed, it was one of the baseball club kids with really close-cropped hair. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period with 1-3 was the same lesson as 1-1, except way more boring… As expected, when I walked by Dinosaur-boy’s table when they were playing the game, he was asking another kid “are you a dinosaur?” lol. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aaah… apparently there’s another one of those demo classes things going on this afternoon… and I know because Yabe sensei just went “don’t you go?” at me just now. “Go where?” and he said “Mr. Mizushima’s special teaching” and I went “aaaaaah… no” honestly, I have a crapload of things to do this afternoon, but even if I didn’t I would still not go unless Mizushima-sensei had personally asked me to, which he didn’t. Butt-out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1<sup>st</sup> period was 1-2 with Yuka, which went fine except that this one kid, Ryouya (I think?) was just being a little dick… I dunno why this kid hates me, and it hurts all the more because his two older brothers are/were some of my favorite students of all time! Tetsuya, now in 2<sup>nd</sup> grade is always super genki and always has a ready smile and wave for me when he sees me in the hallway, and now 1<sup>st</sup> year of high school Tatsuya was one of my original “pervs”. No more needs to be said. But this kid, no matter what I do, he just gets this “get away from me!” look on his face when I come over, like I’m a bug or a dirty sock or something. It’s really frustrating!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was supposed to be 2-3, but apparently there was a change to their schedule (only their class) between 4<sup>th</sup> and 6<sup>th</sup> period. Sadly for them, I already have another class that I can’t miss during 6<sup>th</sup> period. They were really cute though, Daiyu and a bunch of them came to huddle around me, trying to explain that the schedule had changed and where all disappointed “aaaaah”’s when I said I couldn’t come 6<sup>th</sup> period. aww…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was with 1-4 and it was really funny, but now I can’t remember any particular details cuz I’m too tired… sadness. It was followed by 6<sup>th</sup> period with 3-6, which was pretty good too. Seiya had “drawn” a Mt. Fuji on his desk, made out of staples and tape… wtf… and then this cute little girl at the front (Honoka, I think) was like “Vanessa do you have a boyfriend?” and I started saying yes, then went “oh shit” in my head and was kinda shaking it no, but I could see in her face that I was busted. She wanted to know all about him but I told her to ask me after class. She went “me, no…. sabishii…” and this one boy behind her (Yuta? Jumpei? I forgot… I just call him “floppy hair boy” in my head…) he said something and I asked “you’re sabishii too?” and they all went “no no no! very happy! he has girlfriend!” lol. and he kept trying to shush them, going “secret!” Then later on I made things worse by going over and trying to help him write his paper. The topic was “my best memory from junior high school” and he couldn’t pick anything and I said “my best memory is when I met my girlfriend…” and he went “no! no! no!” while Honoka went “yes!! choou ii jan!” and even though he was wearing a sick-mask, you could totally tell that his face was aaaall red. lol. Poor kid. Then he mumbled something to the extent that the other two were too romantic… lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This morning is the very evilest of days out of my schedule. I have periods 1 through 5 all in a row. I really wanna punch the dumb fucker who had THAT brilliant idea… luckily, it doesn’t happen very often that I have all 5 classes… there’s usually a schedule change, or Mizushima-sensei will cancel his class, but unluckily… I had all 5 today. gah!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And to start things off… my favorite… 3-4! Well actually, I suppose it was kinda better off having them first, than last before lunch, when I would be tired and they would be hyper. It went alright, considering… Just before class I ran into Daisuke and he was like “HAHA! Crazy!” pointing at me and laughing, and I asked “why are you laughing at me?” and he went “what?” so I explained “laughing. hahaha!” and he went “aaaah!! because I’m happy!” lol. and he went off. Kid is just too cute. Yesterday I ran into him in the hall and he told me – in English – that he was gonna try the entrance test for one of the really good public high schools near here. I was impressed and wished him luck!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period was 2-2, followed by 3-3 where Kodai tried to cheat on the test and Hiroko wrote that her best high school memory was meeting Winnie the pooh, who is actually a member of the soccer club… Ryota spent most of the class looking up dumb words (like “stinky” or “dirty”) in his new English dictionary, and ended up writing that his best memory of JHS were Shunta’s eyebrows. lol. The kid has a big giant uni-brow, basically… Anyways, 3-3 was fun, I guess. I called Miho by her sister’s name (they look the same and names are almost the same…) and dicked around with Tomoya’s glasses. In a word, a usual 3-3 class :p</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was 2-5, which I hadn’t seen in a really long time (since Mizushima-sensei keeps cancelling his classes… actually, I haven’t seen 2-6 since last November, I kid you not) and they got really into the pokemon game. Even totally cheated and gave Atsuya (kinda slow, baby yanki kid who doesn’t understand ANYTHING) really strong cards and he still managed to lose. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was 1-5 aaaaaaaaand, I can’t remember.</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-68741823956191634392012-01-30T17:27:00.000-08:002012-01-30T17:27:42.218-08:00Week of January 9th to 13th<div class="MsoNormal">Happy New Year everyone!!&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s 2012, and the holidays are over, and that means back to the grind.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Public holiday in Japan.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Well. Here we go again. Today I was supposed to have 5 classes. FIVE. On Friday, I went over to ask Mizushima-sensei if he minded cutting 4<sup>th</sup> period with 3-2, since they basically had an extra class over everybody else and I didn’t wanna have to prepare an extra music lesson just for them (you wouldn’t think, but those things take AGES), and I figured that since he is constantly cancelling his classes with me, he couldn’t say much about it. Well, he seemed really surprised, but said fine, and sure enough, took the opportunity to tell me to not come to 2-3 during 3<sup>rd</sup> period, because they had to prepare for the tests on Wednesday.&nbsp; Fair enough, that still left me with 2-2 and 2-1 with Shigeki for 1<sup>st</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup> period, and then 3-1 in the afternoon 6<sup>th</sup> period. Nice cozy little day with not too much, not too little free time. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So I show up this morning, print my ninensei lesson, and then when Shigeki-sensei finally makes an appearance in the staffroom (5 minutes before class) I go “oh, we have 2-2 now and 2-1 right after, right?” and he goes “aaaaah *teeth sucking sorry….” and there goes my morning. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So I ended up having one class today, which involved watching a movie for 40 out of the 50 minutes of lesson time. We finished watching Hairspray, and like 90% of all the students had “lost” their papers, which made me pretty cranky, and made us start late cuz Shigeki sensei went down to photocopy more. Furthermore, at the end of the class, he proceeded to translate every single question into Japanese, which made me want to pull my hair out, but I was too tired to give a fuck. So let me recap, we watched the movie with subtitles, and then he translates all the questions… and the point of this ENGLISH activity was??? Urgh… at least he’s only a few years away from retirement… *facepalm*</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Bad class with 2-4…. Masaya was apparently reliving his 3<sup>rd</sup> year of existence when he decided that it would be funny to repeat every single thing I said *sigh* the that was followed by a bad class with 3-4, but what was I expecting, really?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">One funny thing that happened was Mao and Minami, chasing me down the hallway to ask what “yeah man!” meant. Except that Minami kept saying “yemen” for the first 5 minutes and I had NO idea what she was trying to say. lol. they followed this by asking me what air quotation meant, and then asking what was “XOXO”. I think they’ve started watching gossip girl… I told them to come ask me after lunch, which they did. and oh boy, trying to explain air quotations to kids who can barely understand English, in a country that doesn’t understand sarcasm was FUN! -_- but nevermind, I like those kiddies. Afterwards, I asked Minami if she liked gyaru magazines cuz I was cleaning my house and could give her some old ones and she said I was “gyappu”. I had never heard that word before and Mao tried to explain it to me, and apparently it’s being something that you don’t look like you are? like living a double life or having a secret identity. lol. Then as I was walking back into the staffroom she shouted at me “Vanessa is secret gyaru on weekend!”&nbsp; well… not so secret anymore, I guess!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In 1-6 Shoki kept removing hair from my pants. lol. Wait, that sounds wrong. I should probably mention that I shed my hair like a dog, and you can usually find long strands of blond hair all over my clothes at any given time. Shoki, this 3 feet tall little kid with a constant smirk like he is soooooo up to no good, has decided that his favorite thing to do now is to remove the hair he can spot on my clothes… weird? yup. but at least it’s entertaining for the other kids in class :p Yuuya was annoying, but actually did the test and the game earnestly. I guess he was in a good mood. He also got a really horrible haircut. I wonder if his mom cut it, cuz it looks really bad. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1-4 boys were arm wrestling with Tatsuki when I walked in (the little kid who is kinda “slow” and “spaced” and kinda the class mascot) but the hilarious thing was that he was beating all of them (with his usual dazed face). Little baby Hideaki kept stealing glances at me the whole class and then doing this shy-giggle-thing and hiding when I looked back. He is suffering from the same attention disease as Ayumu and Masaya in 2<sup>nd</sup> grade… Towards the end, Atsuhiro kept saying that Yuka-sensei looked like she didn’t have a boyfriend. lol. Oh and I went to pester Akira-chan a bit and called him “Akira-chan” loudly in front of all his friends and went “I like Akira-chan cuz he’s so cuuuute!” and poked his cheek, and they all fell over themselves laughing, saying “she says she LIKES you!” “you’re kawaii!!!! Akira-chan kawaii!” and just dying… I’m a bad teacher.</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-11754926830476017292012-01-05T19:57:00.000-08:002012-01-05T19:57:58.184-08:00Week of November 28th to Dec 2nd<div class="MsoNormal"><b><br /></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-6 and it was fun. Yuka-sensei has this “pointer” thingie from the 100yen shop that’s basically a stick with a squishy cat paw at the top. Both the kids and I LOVE the cat paw and always want to play with it… in fact, Fumiya and I have really bonded over our love of the cat paw… Fumiya is this really fat, jolly kid who now sits in the first row. So, most of the class was spent with me waving the cat paw at him, and him trying to grab it. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In 2-4 Masaya was being a horrible little shit again… although there was that one funny moment where I made big eyes at him and he went “hey, are you wearing color contacts?” and it just made me laugh because, with the amount of staring at me that he does, you would think he’d have realized by now my eyes are actually blue… </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In class with 3-1, Minoru (who is a really diligent kid, really good at English) and Seiya (who is a brat who cares more about his hair than anything else – especially English) were swapping this little paper around, writing notes to each other. When I tried to grab for it, they of course wouldn’t let me, but I managed to see that they were writing questions to each other… in English!!! Minoru had written “do you have a girlfriend?” and Seiya answered “yes, I do”. lol. WTF?!! Well, I guess they were practicing English in a way that was more entertaining to them, but still, I was kinda baffled. More baffling even is that they kept at it for pretty much the whole class. The rest of the class involved me and Minami talking about the Korean drama “You’re Beautiful”; explaining to the boy in front of her (to his great interest) how you made “sculpt” gel nails; and telling Yuta that I was 18 and having him believe me. lol. I told him that I was a genius and had gone straight from elementary school to university and he was like “really?” lol. When he realized we were making fun of him he went “me too, me too. I didn’t go to high school or junior high school” and the other kid laughed at him in Japanese going “then what are you doing here?!” Fun times. The mood of the classroom was really good and genki, but they were pretty much all doing anything but the work they were supposed to be doing. Oh well!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Today I had 1-7 first period, and it felt like I hadn’t seen them in ages and they were like “Vanessa, yaaaay!!” when I walked in which was sweet. They were super genki the whole time… Oh! One funny thing that happened was that, we were doing possessives today, and they had to ask each other “do you have XX’s bag?” or similar questions, and there is this kid whose name is “Shu” and so when his group realized that saying “Shu’s” sounded like “shoes”, that’s ALL they were asking for the whole duration of the game. “Do you have Shu-zuuuu bag? hat? car?” and then they would all break into fits of giggles. Cuteness.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then I had regular English with 3-5, and it was kinda funny cuz Kazuma was NOT sleeping. He had his head on the desk, and TRIED to sleep, but he would always go back and open his eyes and just look around at whatever was going on. It cracked me up because obviously he is trying to stick to his bad boy image or “I don’t give a shit”, but he was super awake. Just sit up, kid. I even went to talk to him for a bit and he was all chipper (even though he kept making the girl next to him translate for him) and then he played the game earnestly with Ryohei afterwards *shakes head* Oh and, I also noticed that the girl who looks like Angela Aki (forgot her name, bad me) is dating the boy next to her (tall lanky kid called Shusuke. Smart kid too) because she had purikura of the two of them stuck to her pencilcase… Awww, cute. But seriously, what’s with all these 3<sup>rd</sup> grader couples of kids who are sitting next to each other?? That’s 3 now! (That I know of…)</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Aaaaaaaand, I guess that’s it. I had 3-2 and 2-6 scheduled, but as usual, Mizushima-sensei cancelled his classes with me, and surprisingly, so did Hasegawa sensei. Apparently, those big regional tests we’re having on Thursday have everyone freaking out. I was a bit bummed to miss my weekly class with 3-2, but oh well…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-1 and they were their usual genki selves. There is this one tiny little boy called Fumiya in that class, who showed up to school this morning wearing a snow hat. Now I know that, this being Japan and all, there is NO WAY that the teachers would let him wander around with a hat on just because he was cold, so I figured something must be seriously wrong. So I asked Aoshima-sensei and he told me the kid had surgery for a brain tumor!! And of course his hair fell off cuz of chemo or some other treatment… but apparently now he’s fine :/ Poor baby! Well, he seemed genki enough during class… When we were playing the game, he kept wandering round and round the classroom, and when I assigned him to this group of boys, he refused to play with them, and kept wandering, til I realized he just wanted to be with his friends who were in another (already complete) group, so I was like “ok, fine, you guys can be 6!” and he seemed pretty chipper. There was another girl I tried to put in another group who were only 4, and she completely refused to move and just sat there the whole time. Actually, she always does that, she’s like a freakin’ zombie and never does anything and whenever they play group games I always have to go coax something out of her cuz she completely kills the mood of whatever group she’s in… I mean, I get being an outcast and all, but you could at least TRY. I really have no pity for her at all because it seems to me that she puts herself in this situation. The kids in this class are actually really sweet and warm, and when we do have group things, they usually try to include her and coax her to play along and she just does nothing. Big fail. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Damn, what is it today with kids who don’t wanna play?! There was another shy girl in 1-3 who refused to go into a group. I suggested her two different groups of girls to go with. Even asked one “is it ok if she plays with you” and they nodded yes, and I pushed her over – like physically, with my hands to her back – and she just planted her feet on the ground and refused to move, staring blankly into space. She didn’t even go back to her seat to sit, she just stood there in that one spot for the entire time. Even Aoshima-sensei tried to get her to go, a bit later, but to no avail. Seriously. The rest of them enjoyed the game pretty well, with one usual group of boys waaaaay more eager than the rest, who played like 3 times to everybody’s 1… my little Dinosaur boy seemed a bit out of it though, he was kinda just wandering around.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Oh and btw, on my way back from 1-1 in the morning, I ran into Taisei (3-6) who just randomly started blabbering at me in Japanese “It’s cold… it’s really cold” (I agreed, but actually today is super hot… like almost 20C) followed by “my stomach aches, I don’t feel well…” and he just kept blathering on as he went up the stairs… lol. It was sooo random. haha. I guess he’s sick cuz that’s really kinda out of character for him.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Teeeeeests! </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">I guess that I forgot to write anything for that day…&nbsp;</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Ooooh, I remember! I had 4 classes back to back in the morning that day, and I was gonna leave early in the afternoon cuz I was going to Tokyo for the weekend, and then, in the staffroom around 1:45pm… like seriously 10 MINUTES before I was gonna leave… Aoshima-sensei comes running up to my desk – panting – and goes “Vanessa, we have class now. Today is B week” and I’m like “what?!?!” all panicky. I was not a happy camper. first of all, I’d already had classes all morning with no breaks (which if you don’t know, is really tiring… most “real” teachers never have anything like that on their schedule…), second of all, I’m just a lowly ALT so you would *think* that if I didn’t show up, the teacher would either be glad, or just let it slide and tell me after. but no, there he was standing in front of me, and ushering me back to class. I was also REALLY pissed off mostly because going to class meant I would leave school a good 30 minutes after I had planned, and alter all my plans and make me have to rush to catch the bus in time. Thanks Aoshima-sensei!! :(</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">anyhoo… I ended up making the bus on time and having a wonderful weekend in Tokyo, so I guess all is forgiven… :p</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-31298428512329542812012-01-05T19:55:00.001-08:002012-01-05T19:55:28.263-08:00Week of November 21st to 25th<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Was test day, so nothing too exciting happened.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Backstreet Boys lesson for sentaku with 3-2 and 3-1. The latter was surprisingly uber genki, even though it was 6<sup>th</sup> period. Possibly because class was a nice break from the tests they’ve been having recently. Minami and co kept going on and on about my nails and exte, and about our karaoke date. Ayumi from 3-2 was in love with Brian, and a bunch of the kids from both class were like “are they really foreigners??” (referring to the BSB pics I was passing around) “some of them look Japanese”… :/</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Holiday! Migraine! Joy!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Hairspray lesson with 3-4 and 3-5… Went down better than expected with my two not-so-favorite groups… I was so sick in the morning I “skipped” 2-4 with Shigeki… he never noticed.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-6, which was fine, and fun, except that Yuuya from 1-6 refused to do the test, which left me a bit confused because how would he not know at least one answer??? He was just trying to be a dick. He is usually so genki, so that made me sad.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then I had 1-4 right after, who cheered a bit when I walked in, so that made me happy. &nbsp;The boys in 1-4 ALL had like super messed-up hair. wtf. Baby Hideaki was pretending to have his eyes closed during mokuso and then giggling like an idiot and he saw I’d caught him. On the way back, I ran into Soma and his little posse, and they stayed to walk with me and chat shyly and were SO stoked when I grabbed their hands to demonstrate my human-heater powers. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then Mizushima-sensei cancelled our class with 2-5. Dunno why I’m surprised really… must be like a month or something since I’ve seen those kids!</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-22349827264498801502012-01-05T19:53:00.000-08:002012-01-05T19:53:12.479-08:00Week of November 14th to 18th<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Sooorry! This is very very retroactive… I wrote it the week it was happening, obviously, but then I never had time to edit it, and then I forgot about it. Plus, I thought no one was reading this blog :p&nbsp; It wasn’t until I met up with a friend over the holidays, and she told me “oh yeah! I love your blog and I showed it to all my coworkers and they love it too!” that I was like “huh… people actually read it?!” lol. So I figured I should get off my butt and start it up again. And, since there’s no class until next week, well, you’ll have this (plus one more post) to keep you company…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">I’m also considering changing the format a bit, and instead of doing a dutiful weekly diary, just do one-off posts with interesting things that happened or that I’ve noticed…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Anyways, that’s enough blabber for now… read on!!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday.</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">I was lazy and didn’t write it down and now I forgot. It was actually a pretty good day too! :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Today is actually pretty slow since the only person who has NOT cancelled their classes with me is Hasegawa-sensei. Damn those tests, eh? I’m actually a pretty happy camper though, cuz I have a cold, and normally Tuesdays are 5-classes days… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period was regular English with 3-5, with me just playing the English parrot at the front, so it was of course boring as hell and nothing exciting happened. OH! But before class, while I was walking in the 3<sup>rd</sup> year hallway, Takaya and Ryota (from 3-4) were dicking around and Takaya went “help me!” and started walking stealthily behind me… (like, at a crouch and moving his hands like when you’re skiing…) and I turned around and asked him “who are you hiding from?” but he couldn’t understand and I didn’t know how to say “hide” in Japanese. Then Ryota decided that this was the funniest thing in the world, so he decided to go place himself right behind Takaya and imitate him, doing the same exact retarded “stealth” walk… they followed me nearly all the way to 3-5 like that… lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was regular English with 3-2, which again was a bore, but it had its interesting moments since – of course – it’s 3-2. First up, a group of girls ambushed me on the way to the classroom and we started chatting (with Ayumi declaring her undying love for me again) and then they were trying to teach me this slang word which means “single” and it was something like “real-yu” but I really didn’t get it. Then they were like “oh! You should ask Daisuke if he’s realyu!” and at that very moment, Daisuke showed up and they were like “come here! come here!” and pushed me onto him and I just refused to do it… lol. Honestly I didn’t even understand what they wanted me to say and I was super embarrassed. Poor Daisuke was just completely confused.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">During class, while the kids were working on their handouts (but a bunch of them had already finished) I went to scold Kota cuz he was studying math. We started chatting and then I said I was really bad at Math. He started pulling each one of his textbooks (and of course, by that point Dan was turned around in his seat and participating to the conversation too) and asking me if I was good at that subject. P.E? No. Science? No. Japanese? No. (They’re all laughing at me by this point) Social Studies? Ok. “Oh really? How about History?” Dan asks me, and I nod. I really liked history in High School. Then Dan goes (in Japanese) “wait a minute, she probably doesn’t study Japanese history…” lol. So they started asking me about the history of Canada. Then Kota asked me when the history of Canada started so I said “around 1600?” (yeah, I suck at history now… but I was good at it in school!! XD) and he scoffed and said Japan’s history was <i>much</i> older. After teaching them what “B.C.” meant (they were really into it!) they said that Japan’s history started about 3000 years B.C. lol. Anyways, it was a funny conversation that was interrupted by Hasegawa-sensei wanting to correct the paper… oops.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">At the end of class, Daisuke waved me over and told me I was crazy. Then he laughed and said “You crazy today. You made a mistake”. There was the word “Argentine” in the textbook and I said it wrong. Cuz honestly, how the fuck should I know it was “ar-jent-een” and not “ar-jen-tyne”? But apparently he thought it was hilarious. So I told him “you know English’s not my first language” and he went “it’s not?!” with this stunned look on his face, “what is it?” so I told him it was French, and he was all impressed… it’s funny cuz I tell my kids every year that I speak French, and they always forget. :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Only had one class today and it was with 2-1… Sadly, nothing super exciting happened, other than the usually dickery with the 2-1 boys, and perhaps a bit too much fan-servicing on my part… oh well! :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday &amp; Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Those days were mid-year-seminar (which has been renamed something stupider this year, but I can’t be bothered looking it up), which is basically a two-day conference for JETs all over the prefecture. This is fun and useful in your first year… by the time your second year rolls around, you’re already bored, so imagine having to go for a 4<sup>th</sup> time… JOY! Although it’s fun to see those other people you never get to see, it’s such a bore, and honestly, I’d rather be at school.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Sorry this week wasn’t very blog-worthy! Peace out!</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-32689674938059374132011-11-14T22:59:00.001-08:002011-11-14T22:59:44.586-08:00Week of November 7th to 11th<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><b>Monday</b></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was with 1-7 and they were genki and peppy as usual… the girls kept saying I was really kawaii over and over, and forcing the boys to tell me I was cute. lol. I wore my hair in a braid over my shoulder and apparently that was a big hit :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period was sentaku with 3-3 and it was my first time doing my BSB lesson… it went overall well, but I was like “this song is sooooooo easy” when it started, but they totally couldn’t understand the American-y pronunciation of the song and were super confused as to the missing words. Oh well. They seemed to like the song and the video though. Brian was deemed the coolest. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then, same lesson with 3-6… aaah, my dear 3-6… you never fail to get a reaction out of me. I think it went well though, but both Taisei and Seiya were really sleepy so maybe the class wasn’t as lound as usual. It was Masamitsu and his little group that was the noisiest. When they got the pictures that were passing around, they decided that Nick looked like a Big Mac commercial (his mouth was opened) and proceeded to refer to him as “Makku” for the whole rest of the lesson, and they were looking for “Makku” in the video too… lol. They also waved me over at one point, pointed to Kevin’s eyebrows and asked me if he’d drawn them on. lol. I said they were real and they totally didn’t believe me. At the end of the class, I heard Masamitsu mumble to his friends “Vanessa’s music lessons are so fun” and I was just like “What?! Did I hear that right?!” that kid is soooo on-and-off… I don’t get him at all. Oh well!!!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">lol, two random kids from another junior high school just walked into the staff room with the guy who usually sells sports goods (or something) and they were just staring at me like CRAZY. haha… that’s right, you WISH your school had a pretty ALT like me…. (yeah, I’m vain…)</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Oh, I forgot to write this!! After school, when I was exiting the building, I saw some first year boys loitering by the gate and they were all “byyyyeee Vanessa!” and trying to chat with me a bit as I left. There was like five of them, and the group included Soma (1-1) and Yuuya (1-6) and Shu (1-2) and some other ones that don’t ever really talk. They were trying to tell me I looked so pretty and Soma was very obviously staring at my tits. lol. He’s like 12. Then they all kinda decided to leave at the same time as me and I thought it was cute. For a while they attempted to make conversation as we walked, but they pretty much can’t speak any English, so they soon gave up and ran off way ahead of me. It made me chuckle and I turned on my ipod and walked the rest of the way to the station. when I showed up at the train station, they were all there waiting. (They all live around here and DON’T need to be taking the train to go home). Soma asked me which stop I was getting off at, so I told him, before asking him where he was going. “oh I’m not going anywhere. see you!” and then he ran off again. wtf. lol. The funniest part was that while I was talking to them, these 3 kinda dorky-looking university boys were staring at us with this kinda “omg, I can’t believe these little schoolboys are talking with that blonde girl!” look, and when I passed them later they mumbled “beautiful!” at me, haha… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">So here I was, really looking forward to the fact that I had only one class today, and that it was with my favorite group, and now they told me that I don’t, because since the 2<sup>nd</sup> years are going off to like… “caretaking” training or something… Mizushima-sensei is going with them, so sentaku class is cancelled. pooh…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period with 1-1 went well. Can’t remember much of it now except that Soma and his partner were soooooo eager to finish the crossword puzzle in time, so that they could get a sticker. Mr. partner was really giddy because I still had some panda stickers left, and that’s when I peaked a look at his name card and saw that nearly all his stickers were pandas. Oh yeah, that reminds me, at the beginning of the class, he was trying to steal one sticker off of Soma’s namecard and I went over and said “NO!” and he stopped and Soma came to grab his name card and told him, in English “you are bad boy!” and I laughed. then they both sat down and the kid asked “what does that mean?” to Soma in Japanese and he answered “I dunno”. lol! How the fuck does he not know?! haha…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Third period I had 1-3, and they were a bit more awake than usual, which was nice. The most entertaining part of the lesson was watching Dinosaur boy trying to impress the girl next to him – by constantly commenting on whatever to her – and watching the look of complete disinterest on her face. It’s kinda funny cuz I think he may have delusions regarding his coolness level. I mean, I love him. He’s like 3 feet tall and so so cute, but he’s kinda dorky. Earlier during the break, he had borrowed the glasses of some other kid and was striking these “macho” poses, while looking over the glasses… it was hilarious… I think in his head he thinks he is a cool playboy or something… the reality, however… lol!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Next period was 1-2 and they were as hyper as usual. Yuka needed the whole time to do grammar stuff so mostly I just walked around, tapping kids over the head with her silly “cat paw” stick if they misbehaved… or if they didn’t :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">I’m checking the comment papers from the music lessons with 3-3 and 3-6 on Monday. I started having them fill out a paper where they rate the song and write me a comment in English. It’s working really well cuz I can figure out if the kids enjoy the songs or not, and I was surprised to see that a lot of kids who seemed bored, are usually saying good things about the songs. ANYWAYS. I just got to Masamitsu’s paper. The last two weeks he wrote completely random crap (week 1 : I like apple. week 2 : dodosuko love &lt;3) and this week’s jem is just kinda making my face look like this -&gt; :/ &nbsp;he wrote “all over the woman love &lt;3” wtf?! Considering I know who wrote this, there is no doubt whatsoever as to the meaning of those words… ooh dear… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday.</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Man… am I sleepy…. :/ </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Ooh boy. Staffroom. Before 1<sup>st</sup> period. Everyone is all in a huff because Kazuma is not here again… don’t you people know by now?? Kid likes to skip school. No need to get all in a huff about it every single time! Geez…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">On the way to class, Imari (who was chatting with these two other boys) stopped me to say hello, and then pointedly told them something that I didn’t catch. I made him repeat 3 times til I finally understood that he was saying “everyday ime-change” lol. Damn stupid hospital mask… the funny part though, was that he was telling them so matter-of-factly, like “I know that Vanessa changes her hair everyday… you may not have noticed, but I know because I’m just cool like that” lol. God bless you Imari!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then I had sentaku class with 3-5, and even though they were all really sleepy, they were really into it… especially Kiyo, who was desperate to try to understand the words… It’s kinda funny to me how they really can’t understand southern American pronunciation; haha… the tv really does make everything better. Also some kids at the back were laughing at Nick’s hair, going “kinoko hair! mushroom hair!” lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">On the way back, Daisuke chased me down and was like “Vanessa! Vanessa! Next lesson, what song?” and I said the Backstreet Boys and he made this confused face and said he didn’t know who they were. He said “Next time, Aerosmith! I like! Please let’s!” lol. I said “maybe next next time!” and he went off all happy. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was 3-4, and even though they were REALLY hyper during the break, class went pretty well. Of course most of them weren’t writing anything during the song, but I really think the tv has tamed them. They get really excited when the videos come on. yay! I don’t have to dread going to 3-4 anymore! </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was 1-5, and they did their usual cheer as I walked in the class, which is always uplifting. A funny thing though, was that, as I walked by 1-6’s class, the kids went “ah! Vanessa da!” so I walked back and looked at the through the window while they giggled away. I did it like, 3 more times cuz they were calling my name. lol. I think they were sad that I wasn’t going to their class though. aww… they usually have English at the same time as 1-5 so I coulda been going there. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Finally Friday! yay! </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">On the way to class this morning, I ran into the boys from 2-1 who were heading to gym class, and after saying hello, I was just kinda walking ahead of them when I heard one of them say my name. So I slowed down, turned my head and went “Vanessa, what?” and Ryo got confused and repeated “Vanessa world?” so I just laughed and said “Vanessa World?! What’s that?!” and they all took off laughing and shouting “Vanessa world! Vanessa world!” lol. Wonder what kind of theme park that would be… wait, don’t answer that… :/</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First class was 1-6 and they were really chipper. Yuuya especially was terribly bratty, but it was fun. When Yuka was explaining “over there” on the board, she went to the kids “do you know the song `over the rainbow`?” and the kids were kinda clueless so she started humming it and they booed her. Then they asked me to sing it and they went “oooh” and clapped. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Next was 1-4 and I spent most of the time pestering this one boy at the front of class (Takumi, I think? not sure) and having to stop the two Akiras from play-punching each other… they’re sitting in front of each other now… I wonder if I’ll have to start calling them Akira-chan and Akira-kun like I do for my two Toshikis (who always sit together) in 2-2… lol. Little grumpy baby Hideaki was there too, and his hair got so long it just makes him look all the more like a grumpy teddy bear… He was just staring at me the whole time and giving me this kinda “what do you want?!” look, but then… why the fuck was he constantly looking at me?? This kid is very puzzling… maybe he just naturally looks grumpy and is actually a really cheerful person? lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-73873874303274453682011-11-07T18:58:00.000-08:002011-11-07T18:58:00.268-08:00Week of October 31st to November 4th<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-7 and it went quite well. They cheered a bit when I walked in but I think they’re doing it just to copy 1-5… Before class started, Ryunosuke looked at me, and he was looking at my hair and went “hmmm…. maybe I should dye my hair blonde too…” in Japanese. That was so fucking random. He’s a big tall kid with a buzz cut. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Ran into Daisuke on my way to my second class and he basically ran at me going “Vanessa, Vanessa!!” and I assumed he wanted to tell me that he won at the chorus contest so I cut him off going “I know, I know, you won.” and that completely threw him off and he looked really confused, so I thought maybe he wanted to say something else after all and said “oh, ok, what is it” but then he just proceeded to tell me his class had won. In English. He is so cute because these days he keeps running at me anytime he sees me in the school and trying his hardest to tell me stuff in English. He’s trying really hard!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period was sentaku English with 3-3 and it went super well. They were genki and participative the whole time, laughing at my jokes and all that jazz… those are the best lessons. This one boy who was sitting at the front of the second row on the right kept getting “bullied” by the girls around him (the one behind and the one next to him), they were tickling him and/or poking him, but like, constantly for the whole class. I kept saying “stop bullying him” and “kawaiisou” (you poor thing) at him, and they just laughed… so at the end of class I randomly gave him a sticker because I said I felt sorry for him. He was all pleased with himself and put it on his name card. Hiroko was all shocked and kept saying “sekoi!” so I asked her what it meant cuz I didn’t know, and she pulled out her electric dictionary. Apparently it means “cunning” or “crafty”. Basically she was saying that the kid was putting on a show so I would feel bad for him… lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was the same lesson with 3-6. they also had a good reaction but they were kinda bratty/noisy, and I had to shush them several times… also Masamitsu doesn’t like me anymore… he kept making little shooing gestures at me when I came near him… grr… and yet, he was kinda following along the class, commenting on various things. I dunno what’s his deal. pooh. Maybe he didn’t like me saying his hair looked like Dragon Ball this morning (I swear, it was like all spikey!! lol)</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Daisuke and Imari ambushed me in the hallway and were just chatting at me excitedly, Imari was trying to ask me for candy, and Daisuke was trying to explain to me in English that he was going to AEON with his gf on Thursday (isn’t he so freakin’ cute??) and they were both tripping over themselves to get my attention and these two girls who were walking arm-in-arm behind me and watching the whole thing were like “nampa sareta naaa…” (basically saying the two boys were trying to “pick me up” lol). When they finally managed to get their stuff out, I told Daisuke he was a good boyfriend and he grinned from ear to ear, and I told Imari I didn’t have candy because I was poor this year. Daisuke laughed and told me – I swear to god – “too many accessories!” LOL!! These kids know me too well….</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 2-2, followed by 2-1 and they both went well but kinda whirlwindy so I forgot if anything really funny happened there. same with 3-2, except that it went really well and I had a pretty long chat with Dan and Kota, where Dan said he wanted to go study abroad in Canada, and that he had friends in Canada, and then I heard Kota mumble at him in Japanese “they’re not friends!” lol. I wonder if he has some little Canadian internet girlfriends or something?? That would explain why these two cool boys like English so much… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">3-1 was entertaining to say the least. I think this class could have gone badly, but the tv saved the day so their attention was up the whole time. First weird thing was that when I walked in to class, Ikuto (the weird kid) came over and went “Vaneeeeeessaaaaaaa….” and just stood next to me and gave my arm a few little squeezes. Like he’s squeezing my arm fat and he likes it… did I mention the kid is weird? He did that to me last Friday as well, at the chorus contest. wtf…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Anyhow, another funny thing was this whole going way off topic for like 5 minutes while the kids were telling Shigeki-sensei that Aoshima-sensei wore a wig/toupet, and Shigeki-sensei didn’t know and the kids were just pissing themselves and they were like “you should ask him!” so of course he said “well I’m not gonna ask him that!” and then they went on “you should go to the onsen together! take him to the sento!” lol… This came about cuz I was teaching them the meaning of the word “shine” and someone brought about this one teacher who’s completely bald, and thus has a very shiny head…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then after the bell rang, I was walking in the hallway and I’d just run into Yuka (the teacher) and was chatting with her when Minami ran out of the classroom shouting “Vanessa! kondou, asobou!” (it means “let’s play next time”, but basically “let’s hang out together” ) lol. A bunch of the guys laughed at her and went “you can’t say that to a teacher?” and Yuka was laughing, but I just said “sure, let’s go karaoke!” and she got super excited going “Really?! ok ok! Next Sunday!!” &nbsp;Hum… not sure what I’ve gotten myself into here… but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t mind going karaoke with Minami so… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">After school I went to the department store near my house to meet up with a friend for dinner, and I ended up running into two sets of graduated students! The first pair were both mine, and I couldn’t remember their names or if they had graduated one or two years ago, cuz I suck. One of them asked me “do you remember me?” and I said “of course honey! I don’t remember your name cuz I’m a bad teacher, but I remember your face!” and she said “yokatta!” &nbsp;Cuteness. Then I swear like 10 seconds after I’d left them, I ran into one of my favorite kids from last year, Yuna who basically attacked me with a hug. She was with a friend from her new school, a super-tiny shy girl who seemed really well behaved and impressed by our relationship. I asked her Yuna if she was still dating Yuu and she went “No!! He was so bad!!” lol. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First class was 1-1… before class started, I was chatting with the group of boys near the window and one of them, Raimu, asked me in Japanese if I’d ever baked bread. It took me a while to get what he was asking because he was saying “pan tsukutta koto aru?” and I was hearing “pantsu”, which means underwear in Japanese, because he was speaking so fast, so I kept going “huh?!” &nbsp;Anyways, I said no, and he went “whaaat?! When we were in elementary school, I asked you and you said you had!” Kid, how do you remember that? I can’t remember at all… also I possibly didn’t understand anything you were asking back then since I couldn’t speak Japanese very well… then he launched into a story (to these two other boys) about how I was in love with Kaisei. lol. (One of the other boys in that class) and I nodded, made a heart sign with my hands which cracked them both up. Then I went on explaining that it’s a joke, because when they were in grade 5, a lot of girls in his class were in love with Kaisei, so I said I was part of the Kaisei fan club too (he’s the only kid whose name I ever remembered from elementary school btw). The two boys went “majika?!” (no way!) and then, exactly at the same time, they both shouted Kaisei’s name really loud, on this super funny tone. lol. It was really really funny, though I guess you had to be there.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">1-3 during the 3<sup>rd</sup> period went better than usual… I was teasing that kid with the huge playboy smile and his little friend and they were totally into it. Then I went to 1-2 straight away because I didn’t wanna go down the stairs and all the way back up, and I swear, someone gave those kids sugar just before because they were completely nuts during the WHOLE break time! This one boy in the back, Kengo, was being “bullied” by about 3 different girls, and it was kinda hilarious. First of all, boys and girls don’t really mix in Japanese schools normally, nevermind touch, or participate in this kind of friendly bullying. These girls were all up on them! Climbing their backs, pushing them (oh yeah, there was another boy who got bullied a bit, but mostly just Kengo), ruffling their hair… when I showed up, Yuri – the girl next to him – was petting Kengo’s hair quite violently and he was laughing and squealing at the same time. lol. I walked in behind her and put my hand in his hair and started doing the same thing, and all the girls were giggling and Yuri told him “I’m not doing it!” so he looked up and went “ooh! bikkurishita!!” and everyone laughed. The second I stopped they got back to it and he started squirming “sensei! help me!!” so I went back over and I was like “sekuhara!” (you’re sexually harassing him!) and they just laughed and he went “yes! yes! sekuhara! stop!” in English… Anyways, they kept at it for nearly the WHOLE break… at one point I had to make a wall around the kid with my arms so she would leave him alone… lol. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">The rest of the class with them was also really fun, but they were still so fucking hyper… even Yuka told me at the end “I’m sorry, this class is so crazy!” lol. It’s her homeroom actually, haha…. well, I’d rather crazy kids to zombie kids any day of the week….</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Today was a holiday. Japan has a lot of these random middle-of-the-week holidays… back home, when a holiday falls on a weekday, it just gets relegated to the nearest Monday or Friday, here, such rationale is apparently inexistent, thus middle-of-the-week randomness. There’s another one coming in about 3 weeks or so. wtf.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Veeeeeeeeery sleepy today…. thank god it’s a slow day. First period was 1-6 with Yuka, and when I showed up she was like “I need to just do grammar today, so if you wanna just go do your work in the staffroom, it’s ok”. I said I would stay, cuz the kids had already seen me and they get really confused if I show up and then leave, but figured I would bail the next one. A funny thing that happened was that, during the aisatsu, Yuka went “good morning everyone!” and the kids have to answer “good morning miss Shoji and Vanessa” and then one of the kids said “see you!” instead of good morning, to me, and after a few giggles I was like “eh? see you? ok, bye bye!” and I walked out of the classroom while everybody laughed. Yuka made the kid apologize and he was like “so-ri!” Awww… Other than that nothing too exciting happened except for the fact that this one kid Yuuya kept being a brat at the back of the class :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Oh and, everybody is digging my blindingly bright pink shirt today, apparently… the school nurse just stopped me near the sink in the staffroom to tell me that my shirt’s color was “sugoi, kirei!” (that was random) and earlier I ran into Dan and Kota and one of them (who can remember, eh? it’s like they’re one entity…) said to me in English “oh! nice shirt today!” lol. gotta love that they are trying to impress me by trying so hard to speak English. and then, in the afternoon, the head teacher just kinda stop next to my desk and went “wow! nice color!” while I’m thinking like “dude, I’ve been wearing this shirt all day… you’ve just noticed??”</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">And on that note, my bed is calling. toodles.</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-45842205165011987742011-11-06T18:58:00.000-08:002011-11-06T18:58:09.691-08:00Week of October 24th to 28th<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-6… it went well. This one little boy named Yuuta was like this when I walked in: </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">kid: hello!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">me: hello.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">kid: ohayo!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">me: ohayo.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">kid: (giggling) ohayou gozaimasu!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">me: ohayou gozaimasu.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Kid and and friends burst into laughter. Glad I could be of service really. The rest of the class went fine, and then at the end of the class when Yuka gave them their tests back, they were all trying their damnest to hide their scores from me. but I always win. *evil laughter*</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Second period was 2-4. Don’t remember.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Third period was 3-1 and, when I walked in, my crazy boys were all sitting on the floor in the back corner of the room. I went to ask them “what’s wrong, you guys are so quiet today.” and Kouki said “very very tired”. Yeah, me too, kid. Then that wacky one mumbled something that obviously had the word “oppai” (boobs) in it, and I made to kick his face with my foot (I’m nice like that) and he shouted “under hair!” and everybody laughed. lol. I’m not quite sure what he was trying to say… any ideas???</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">On the way back to the staffroom, I ran into a very sleepy-looking Kota who looked at me, followed by this pained thinking expression, and then said “next class, where?” and I said I had break after and he seemed confused so I said “no class, no. but we have class tomorrow” he nodded sleepily and walked into the bathroom. lol. So weird. I guess the kids like having a one-day weekend as much as I do.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-7. They were generally peppy, as usual and I have nothing bad to say. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Second period was with 3-5. Mostly incredibly boring except for the fact that Ryohei apparently decided that he was going to be a host today, showing up to school with totally suji-ed hair (well, as much as he could get away with, with the JHS restrictions anyways) and cracking me up. There also was this funny part when they were doing the writing activity later on, and as I was walking by him, I heard the girl next to him say in Japanese “well just ask Vanessa” and he goes (in Japanese) “this person does not understand Japanese, why would I ask this person?” and I was standing right next to him, right? So I look down at him, and he looks up and I go “kono hito nihongo wakarimasen?” and the girl laughs and he looks guilty. So he asked me what the word he wanted to say in English, which was “lend” but I don’t even think he knew what he wanted to say in his head because he was just sooo confused… I ended up walking away. It’s funny and weird cuz he is usually quite good at English. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was with 3-2, and since they are my favorite class, it shoulda been fun, but just before the end of the break, Hasegawa-sensei came to tell/ask me that they were really behind so that she needed the whole class for grammar stuff… so besides a bit of tape-recorder-repeating, all I did was wander around and poke the kids who were falling asleep. Most entertaining moments were Daisuke trying to chat with me at the beginning of the class, telling me (as Ayano is standing right next to him) that he is broken-hearted, and when I asked him why he pointed to her and said “another love…” and made a sad face. Then she went “eh?!! no no no no!!!” and he laughed. I told him he was a liar and he was like “what’s that?”</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Also Imari was pretty entertaining today, telling me that he had won the hello kitty plushy hanging from his pencil case at UFO catcher, but that he actually sucked at them. Then later, in the mini game, he actually sought me out to ask me the question (which I thought was cute) and then when they were doing this handout paper, I went over to tell him to write his name (cuz he’d forgotten) and he goes “No! No name!” So I asked him “are you no name boy?” and he goes “Yes! No! I am Michael Jackson!” lol. It was so fucking random… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">6<sup>th</sup> period was cancelled by Mizushima-sensei… dunno why but I totally saw it coming….</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Wednesday</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was with 1-1 and we did the math game. Nothing exceptional happened except that Soma burst into giggles at me when I was saying “see you” at the end of class, and I have no idea why, and it was just really, really adorable.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Next was 2-1 and it was a really fun class. All the boys were acting up so bad. (but in a good way?) and Wataru kept blushing whenever he saw me looking at him. They did pretty well on the writing activity so I’m happy and surprised! At one point, I was walking near to white-hair-boy (Yuta) and he went “hatsuon wa jouzu desu ne” (your pronunciation is good), but I wasn’t saying anything so it was kinda random. I asked him “in English or Japanese?” and he went “both”. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">As I was making my way to class in the afternoon, ran into 3-2 leaving, with Dan and Kota of course walking side by side. Kota spotted me, went “ha!”, elbowed Dan to look at me and said “maketa!” (you lost!)… wtf was that about? Are they taking bets on how I’m gonna wear my hair or something? That was soooo random….</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was with 3-6. This class is kinda weird… they are either completely on, or completely off… today, they were on. They surprised me by being super cheerful the whole time. Even Masamitsu welcomed me into the class going “oh! beautiful!” (lol. I am wearing my hair in braids today… it always gets me a flattery reaction from the kids) and then I was making fun of him because he had two pair of pants on, and I was like “why are you wearing two pairs of pants?” and one of the other kids answered (in english!) “It’s different culture!” raising his hands and shrugging, which cracked up all the other kids. The reason why it’s funny is because that exact sentence has been studied in the last chapter of the book. Then they were like “sa-ge pants!” and I was like “what’s sage?” and basically they explained to me that it was “cool to have pants riding low on your ass…” lol. I told them it was like that in Canada too, but that one didn’t usually wear two pairs of pants on top of the other… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Anyways, the rest of the class was followed by more chatting and dicking around, and then, at the end I was explaining about “peek-a-boo” (the game we play with babies) to the same group of boys and they were just sooo interested in it. lol. Then the little kendo boy (forgot his name) pointed at my belly and went “do you have a baby?” and they all went “ooooooh!!” and I made to punch him. Little shit! argh! Then class was ending and they were like “no baby? no baby?” and I was like “no! I don’t have a baby!!!” and Seiya asked “do you have a boyfriend?” and I replied “no boyfriend either!” and he was like “zettai usso” (you’re obviously lying) and thankfully the bell rang, but I was still fuming! Little shits!! argh! (I mean that in a loving way….)</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period with 1-2 was entertaining, to say the least… they were all soooo sleepy, but they were still trying their bests to participate… every once in a while I would stare at a kid and watch them notice me and then open my eyes real big and watch them giggle… (I entertain myself whichever way I can…) but mostly, it was the fact that Yuka caught Tatsuya trying to pass a paper around, and on the paper was this godawful ugly drawing of a person, and when she asked him who it was he said it was me :/ the character had big ginormous boobs. yay. and I’m wearing a super loose shirt today too, wtf…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">I was supposed to have 2-3 during 4<sup>th</sup> period, but Mizushima-sensei asked me not to come. I’m kinda bummed cuz I had only 3 classes today, and I like 2-3 so I was looking forward to seeing them. oh well. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Ok, so apparently there is no class this afternoon either cuz they are rehearsing for the chorus contest tomorrow. huh. On the monthly schedule thingie it says classes go til fifth period. I guess not :/ </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">We had the chorus contest today and it was at the big fancy concert hall in my city. Every 3 years, Junior High Schools all over the city get to have their chorus contest there, so it’s my second time now cuz we had it there my first year. I don’t really have much to say about it because it’s the same every year, quite boring. and actually, we didn’t even sing the teachers’ song because apparently we were running behind schedule. I had NO PROBLEM with that whatsoever since I didn’t even know the song and it was in Japanese. I couldn’t even interact with the kiddies that much because the non-homeroom-teachers’s seats were on the second floor, with the parents, completely cut off from the kids on the main floor. I only saw them a bit at lunch time and during toilet breaks. For some reason everybody was squealing that I was so kawaii today. I guess wearing a jeans jacket makes me super kawaii :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">During one of the said bathroom breaks though, I saw these two teenage girls dressed kinda gyaru, and as I looked at them closer, I recognized two of my old students, who graduated two years ago. They were all happy that I recognized them, and one of them – Yuika – blew me away by chatting away in nearly perfect English. Actually, she was my speech contest kid that year, but even though she was better at English than her classmates at the time, she still had a hard time understand me all the time… but now… wow! and she told me that she’s going to do study abroad in Fiji next year! Wow, some people have all the luck!!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">In the end, class 3-1 and 3-2 tied for first place, which was really surprising, but I guess it made more people happy. They were both quite good though, so I guess it’s nice. I can’t remember who won for the other grades, but the only ones that are really worth watching are the 3<sup>rd</sup> year students, because the younger ones can’t sing at all. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-53107700559455993042011-10-21T23:24:00.001-07:002011-10-21T23:24:39.933-07:00Week of October 18th to 22nd<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First and 3<sup>rd</sup> period got switched somehow, but with only the ichinensei… which means that I had 1-3 first, and then 1-1 during third period. 1-3 were right proper little zombie the whole fucking time. It was actually kinda unnerving. Aoshima-sensei even flipped out at them for not answering a question he was asking them in Japanese (it was funny cuz he is an unusually quiet and soft-spoken man. lol). During my part, they were even more zombiefied. I made that comment to Aoshima-sensei at the end of class, and he went “yeah, they did Thriller during sports day” and I just stood staring at him like “holy shit! did you just crack a joke just now?!” I was too stunned for words. Oh, also, I walked up to dinosaur-boy at the beginning of the class cuz he hadn’t opened his book yet, and he looked up to me and went, in perfect English “may I help you?” lol. That kid is the cutest.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">1-1 went much better, and once the little smart asses figured out what I wanted them to do (I was showing them pictures of cars and they had to say adjectives like “long, expensive, fast”…) they started saying words that were the obvious opposite of what I wanted them to say. So when I showed a tiny car they all went “big! very big!!” It was cute. At least it showed enthusiasm on their part.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">I was supposed to have 1-2 with Yuka right after, but since tests are tomorrow (and she’d forgotten we had class) she said to please not come. Sweet, considering I am sleepy as hell.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">What is not so sweet is that I had somehow not written down on my schedule that I had class with 3-1 in the afternoon. Lucky for me I figured it out before lunch break, and even luckier that that class hadn’t done the MCR lesson yet… otherwise I would’ve been FUCKED. I’m in the process of devising a new music lesson now for Thursday, but it’s not ready yet. Oh yeah, speaking of which. Last Friday, I was marveling about the fact that the new giant tvs we can roll into class can plug onto our computers. I said to Hasegawa sensei that I thought it was cool cuz I’d be able to show videos in my music class and she went “yeah, the children would be less bored than just listening to music”. and I was like “excuse me?!” I swear, she keeps making these passive aggressive remarks at me!! She isn’t even there during the music classes, and at least I’m TRYING to do something different… sheesh. What’s her problem?! (sorry, had to get that off my chest).</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Anyways, class with 3-1? Well, it sucked. I really don’t know why I bother even trying anymore… maybe I’ll just show them movies from now on. To be fair, they have tests tomorrow and they are all super tired cuz they are studying like crazy for the stupid tests. when I showed up to class during break, my usual little crazy posse was being incredibly hyper, with Kousuke reading out practice questions from a book and whenever any of them answered it correctly they would howl. That’s right, howl. Like wolves :/ As soon as class started though, they proceeded to pass out on their desks. yay. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Today was test day so I had no classes. I was REALLY happy about it, and no crazy fuckup came around to give me afternoon classes, so I just focused on prepping my new music lesson and reading blogs. It was so nice :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Today is tests again, but only until 3<sup>rd</sup> period (weird). At least I get a nice little 3 period break to wake-up before I have to attack the giant human blob that is 3-4… They better like my goddamn video!!!! </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Aaaargh… Ryotaaaaa…. I want to punch you in the face!!! Or at least squeeze you little neck really tight!! urgh!! Well actually I did – squeeze his neck, I mean – in a choking motion… as a joke though, which he found funny… damn him. He is such a little shit…. Actually, class went well enough, considering. They got super excited when they saw the tv and all started squealing “Spiderman?!” and I was like “no, we are not watching Spiderman…”<span>&nbsp; </span>See, this is because Mizushima-sensei had promised them that before summer vacation, but it ended up never happening… Anyways, they paid more attention than usual, I think and the video at the end was a success, but Ryota… maaaan, that kid. he kept dicking around with Shun… being really loud about it too, and looking at Ne-Yo’s picture and going “kitanai!” which means “dirty” cuz he was black… Japanese people get reeeeeeaally little exposure to black people, so the reaction when they do (for kids at least) is often giggles. Anyways. Also during the song he kept doing these really ridiculous dance moves, and trying to get his buddies across the room to look at him and laugh at him. ergh… he did tell me he really liked the song at the end though, which was kinda “wtf?” but I guess… *sigh* Anyways, it could’ve been worse.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was with 1-5, and they were really fun, as usual. When I walked into the class, a bunch of kids said “hey” and I went “what, no cheering today?” so they went “yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!” lol. Then the funny chubby kid with the buzz cut and glasses was being super loud while repeating the words Aoshima-sensei was saying, and it was just really funny. When reading the text he would go “oh really?” going really high on the “really” and making everybody crack up. Fun times.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Ran into Ayumu on the way back and he was walking around in zig-zags going “tsukaretaaaaa….” (I’m tired…) lol. I asked him how his tests went and he went “tests? I don’t do tests…”<span>&nbsp; </span>;p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was my Ne-Yo music lesson with 3-5. They were better than 3-4, but Kazuma was there and he was turned around in this seat and talking with Ryohei the whole time… even though he was the first kid in the line and like RIGHT in front of me… I had to tell him several times to shut up and turn around, and even one time physically turn him around… sheesh. Shigeki-sensei was freakin’ hilarious with his comments, as always. Today’s prized jem was “I love Michael Jackson, he looks like Michael Jackson. Great dancer”. yup. They reeeeeeaaallly look alike……… -_-</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was 2-4 and 4<sup>th</sup> was 2-5 and it was the same lesson and because I’m a bad, lazy blogger, I can’t remember what happened much, besides the fact that Masaya was way quieter than usual, except for a bit of his usual “rebound” banter at the beginning and end of class. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Saturday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">That’s right, Saturday. Today is a special day, so the parents can come and watch their kids having lessons. In exchange for being here today, we had last Monday off – which is really stupid if you ask me because they should’ve given us next Monday off instead so we could have at least two days off in a row… but I have learned a long time ago that most of the decisions my school makes don’t make sense, so…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Anyhow, the day started off to a not too fantastic start as the train that I take to get to school was stopped (I dunno why, maybe rain?) and the guy at the gate was saying it could be an hour before it would start running again. Turns out it was only ten minutes, but I still had to call my school to say I was gonna be late. As luck would have it, I showed up just in time for my first lesson, which kinda sucked because at that point I would have preffered just skipping it, but whatever.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-7 and all went well. Kiddies cheered a bit when I walked in and Eitaro was super cute. He took his job as the “mokuso” (quiet minute) leader very seriously. Only one parent showed up. I guess it was too early.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">After that I had my MCR lesson with 3-3, I was super stoked about it, but then I had problem after problem after problem with the video and the computer/tv and in the end I couldn’t play it, which sucked. Koudai and his little posse were having a grand old time of watching me trying to fix it and making cracks at my “angry face”. They kept going “Vanessa is angry!” in English, which was very funny. No parents came to the class.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">I managed to fix the problem in 3-6, and by the time I got there, parents had started trickling in. I think I may have freaked them out a bit with the video and by teaching the kids important things like “you’re nuts” and “I hate your guts”. But hey, it’s international lesson time! Who cares! lol. The kids were all really giddy. I dunno if they wanted to impress their parents or what but they were all really chipper and paying attention and answering my questions… even Masamitsu was in a good mood (although he said the video was crazy and he didn’t like the song…) One funny thing though, Taisei didn’t say a word the whole time, and just sat quietly in the back. I asked him what was up at the end of the class and he told me he was tired cuz he had a cold… damn. it’s like the energizer bunny winding down… lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">On the way back I ran into Minami, Nao and another 3-1 girl who stopped to have a chat with me. I honestly can’t remember what it was about, but Minami was trying really hard to talk in English, which impressed me. Then when I passed in front of 3-1, some of the boys were dicking around and mumbled something at me and I stopped and went “what?” and they obviously chickened out of repeating what they had originally said, but then Kouki asked me if my mother was coming today, which cracked me up. I asked “why, do you want to meet my mother?” and he said “yes!” lol…. maybe next time…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">lol… I’m checking the comment sheets from the music classes… one of the kids from 3-6 wrote “I have a cold. But my listening power is perfect!!!” lol. Cracked me up so much! No mistakes either! !</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-68274586656143526492011-10-17T23:43:00.000-07:002011-10-17T23:43:27.907-07:00Week of October 10th to 14th<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Soooorry! last week I was very sick! so I pretty much didn’t write down anything of what happened….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">was public holiday.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First class with 1-7, they cheered when I walked in ^___^<span>&nbsp; </span>especially Eitaro. Really loud. Which made me wanna hug him cuz he is soooooo cuuuuuuute! Class went well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period with 3-5 went okay. I was watching Kiyo not doing one of the speaking activities (where they have to walk around asking other people for their answers) so I was gonna go over and ask him the questions, but he saw me coming and started running away from me! lol. I chased him around the classroom. Twice. Then he went and asked some other kid. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On the way back to the staffroom, I ran into Dan and Kota. Dan just mouthed “hello” to me, so I mouthed it back, then Kota said “hello!” and Dan smacked him upside the head and said in Japanese “No! You have to do it silently!!!” </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was with 3-2, so I was looking forward to it, but then the bell rang and Hasegawa sensei wasn’t showing up. I waited a little bit cuz sometimes teachers are just late, but she wasn’t coming at all. She hadn’t told me anything about it so I wasn’t sure what to do. I was chatting with the kids a bit; Daisuke and Ayano were being all “raburabu” and almost holding hands under the desk. *cute* and they were looking at some purikura and I asked them if they had puri together, and he gave me a big “yes!!” and she went “no no no!” I laughed and said I wanted to see it. Dan and Kota were being pervy teenagers and daring each other to say stuff to me in English, except I could totally hear them mumbling “nice body”, and a more entertaining “what are you doing tonight” in perfect English, which cracked me up. Finally someone told me that Hasegawa sensei was taking the class picture with her homeroom for the yearbook. That’s nice. Couldn’t she have told me before? Anyhow. So I made them play crossfire and we still managed to finish before she got back. :/ Then we just did review and practice for the test for the rest of the class (when she finally came back) Dan decided he was sleeping through the whole thing, and no amount of poking could get him to actually do anything. Then this other baseball boy, Takaya, was just sleeping on his desk, and I went to poke him awake. He perked up, but 5 minutes later I turned around and he was sleeping again. Later, I was messing around with Daisuke (who sits just in front of him) and pretending to punch him awake, and Daisuke goes “shh… broke heart. It’s ok”, making a sad face and broken-heart gesture with his hands. Aww… has this big tall baseball guy gotten his heart broken by a tiny JHS girl? Poor kid. So I let him sleep :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Today, morning classes were cancelled because of the sports test day. When I showed up, the staff room was empty and most of the teachers were outside on the field. I thought that was weird because I don’t remember it being like that in the past (I also don’t remember having a special day just for P.E. tests, but then again, maybe that’s just me getting senile…) but mostly I was just worried that someone was gonna come and ask me to join them. A) I’ve been so busy with classes recently that I have been relishing this day of doing almost nothing for a while, and B) I had to plan some lessons for the next 1<sup>st</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup> year classes, so I needed that time to do that, not to go and pretend to be useful out there in the sun. Anyways, no one did so all was well.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">During 5<sup>th</sup> period, 3 teachers had special demo classes (one in each year) that other teachers went to observe. Normally that means I get to sit on my ass by myself in the staffroom, but unlucky for me, one of them was Shigeki-sensei, and he had asked me (like 3 months ago) to “please assist” him. And by that he meant answer one conversation question and then walk around the class helping the kids as they work. Hard work. But whatever, since I didn’t have anything else today, I took my role as his shadow very seriously :p It was with his homeroom, 2-4 – or in other words : Masaya’s class. The aforementioned specimen was surprisingly well behaved, and class went really well, mostly because Shigeki-sensei had already prepped them and told them exactly what they were gonna do… *shakes head* oh well. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">When I walked into the class, Manaka greeted me by flashing this towel at me and going “Vanessa! look! look!” and I was a bit puzzled til I noticed the towel said “Tohoshinki” and so I was like “cool!” and gave her a high five. She said to me “I love ~ (honestly, I forgot which one…)” and then she posed and said “my mother loves Yuno”, doing a little hearts gesture with her hands, which was really cute. Then I told her that I liked Changmin and she went “nooooooooo!!! XX much better!” lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Another funny thing was that we were studying “I think that ~” and during the intro part of the lesson, Shigeki-sensei asked (as a joke) “what do you think of my hair?” Well, this one kid who is sort of an overachiever and really good at English stands up and goes, super confidently “I think it’s great!” lol. My JTE is like 60 and his thinning grey hair. Also, the same kid’s team’s speech at the end went like this.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">A: Do you know mister Shigeki? He is my homeroom teacher. He is kind and loves sake. What do you think about my Shigeki?</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">B: oh I know. I like him. I think his hair is great.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">ROTFL. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Really sleepy this morning, and really unexcited by the perspective of having 5 classes. Lucky for me, due to some mysterious fucking up of the schedule (again) 2<sup>nd</sup> period disappeared so I only have 4. actually, I may have 3 cuz I saw the sub teacher girl earlier, which means Yuka isn’t here, which means that she probably forgot that I’m supposed to go to her class, which means that if I don’t go, nobody will know…. hmmm….</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Anyways, first period was with 1-1 and it was pretty uneventful. At the beginning of class, Soma was looking at all the stickers on his name-card and asking me what happened when he got to 20. I told him he’d get a special prize and he went “ooooh…” really thoughtfully. It was kinda funny. Also, I realized that he is now taller than me. He’s 12. I feel short :/ </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Next was 1-3 during 4<sup>th</sup> period. They were REALLY boring. Most entertaining moments involved me going up to this TINY kid who has GIANT eyelashes (they look like fake lashes.. they are that long!) and freaking him out by trying to touch them and saying “wow, your eyelashes are so long!” and having him reply in really polite Japanese “yes, I’m often told that” lol. Then this other kid was talking to his friend and referring to me as “kinpatsu sensei” (means gold-haired teacher) which cracked me up. And of course the tiny kid with the beauty mark under his eye who answered “I study dinosaur!!” when I asked “what do you study”… <span>&nbsp;</span>(remember last week he told me he WAS a dinosaur? :p)</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then, I stopped by the teacher’s toilet before going back to the staffroom, and ran into this young part-time teacher who teaches Japanese and has never ever talked to me (I secretly hate her cuz the hot teacher is always hitting on her as well…) and she goes to me (in Japanese) “aren’t you hungry?” so I reply that indeed, I am hungry. She giggles and tells me that she is so hungry too and always looks forward to eating kyushoku…. hhhmmmm… Okay! That was fucking random… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Last class of the day was regular English with 3-6, and it was pretty boring at first, but actually turned out really fun towards the end. First off, during break, this one kid was looking out of the window and I crept up next to him until my cheek was almost next to him but just behind him, to make him freak out when he turned around – which he did – but the funny part was that when he walked back to his seat, all the other boys were teasing him, going “you stud! You just kissed Vanessa! woooh!” lol. (I didn’t even touch him, FYI…) then, during the class there was this big argument with the one group in the back about how you were supposed to say “Daibutsu” in English, so I said “big Buddha” and they thought it was hilarious and refused to write it down and kept on going Daibutsu, Daibutsu… and then I said “there are 3 daibutsus in Japan” and they just cracked up and kept repeating “daibutsu-zu” like it was the most hilarious thing in the world… Honestly, I didn’t really get it, but they seemed entertained. At the end, I got to play my game and they surprisingly got really into it, which was a lot of fun. One of my questions was “this type of music is liked by Vanessa” and the first kid who’s hand shot up was Seiya (the tall one) and he went “visual!” and that was correct, so I gave him the point, but then Taisei yelled from the back “That’s not fair! He’s a Vanessa otaku!” and everybody laughed including me. It’s especially funny considering that kid is not one of my fanboys at all… </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" /> First period was 3-4 and it started horribly bad, with them being more I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-anything than I’d ever seen them before… but it (to my incredible surprise) turned around at the end. Mostly, Ryota was just being super loud, wandering around, talking over Hasegawa-sensei… He even spent a good 5 minutes out of his seat in the back, talking to Ryouga about weekend plans, and then shouting over some other kids’ heads at Yasutoshi to ask if he was in as well, and I was just watching them but it took AGES before Hasegawa-sensei even said anything. Then she started reading out the names of all the kids who hadn’t handed in their notebooks for correction, and starts chiding them, and Ryota goes “eh? not me?!” and she goes back to her list and exclaims “of course, you.. how did I miss you…” which was kinda funny and everybody laughed. Then they did their stupid practice test... most of them… and when it was time for my game at the end, I was super worried, but what do you know, Mr. Bad Kid himself got SO into it. First of all I asked them “we’re gonna play a trivia game. Who knows what is triva?” and when I asked this in the other classes no one knew, but Ryota jumps up and “demonstrates” smashing a buzzer button, making a buzzer sound. And I’m like “yeah, that’s right!” So we play the game and he’s SO into it… and even answered some of the questions correctly. lol. Actually his team won (not because of him, but still) so he finally got a sticker he earned, for once, haha…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">2<sup>nd</sup> period was 2-2 and at the beginning of the class, Yuichiro was sitting with his earthquake pillow over his head, mumbling “I am a pumpkin” in English… wtf. Class went well. Can’t remember too much of it now though. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was 3-3 and it went really well. I always forget how good a class this is since somehow I don’t see them that often. I spent most of the time dicking around with Kaho and Tomoya in the back of the class… they were really entertaining. When I was talking to Kaho, I peered at her eyes and went “heeeey…. are you wearing contacts?” and she looks at me with a clueless look so I go “colorcon!” and she gives me this sudden look of shock and anger and brings a finger to her lips and goes “secret!!!!” lol. Like, who would I tell? Actually, I was surprised cuz it really wasn’t obvious at all. Afterwards we kept harassing Tomoya and calling him “tomochan” and he kept saying (in English) “please call me Tomoya” and Kaho was pissing herself and she asked me if I was in love with him. <span>&nbsp;</span>I said yes, cuz he’s sooooo cuuuute, and she just wouldn’t stop laughing and he was super embarrassed. Also he wrote “I want to kill you with a sword” on her paper, in cursives… I was like “wtf?! And how do you know how to write in cursives???” at the end of the class, he asked me to explain to him what “damn it!” meant. lol. where does he find these words?!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Oh and also, one of them had written “Geromu” in katakana on Hiromu’s desk, and at first I thought it was Ke and not Ge so I asked “why Keromu” and they go “no. Ge. Gero”. and I’m like “Gero… oh!” and burst out laughing, which cracked them up. Gero means “puke” in Japanese…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Finally 5<sup>th</sup> period was with 1-5. When I showed up on their floor, there was apparently some kind of mess going on, with some of the teachers directing the kids into wiping the floor next to the sinks… they kinda finished as I made my way through and I heard voices behind me go “masaka… go kumi?” (basically, “can it be? she’s going to group 5?!” and I heard them and raised my hand showing five fingers and they all ran at me from behind going “yaaaaaay!!” and they all attacked me with high-fives. lol. Cutest thing ever. When I walked into the classroom there was more cheering and I went “I love you guys! you always cheer when I come!” then this group of kids at the front where talking and pointing at me and all I caught was “dekai” which means “really big” and I asked them what they were talking about, and it was my earrings. Apparently they were baffled by the size of them (which is funny cuz I wear them almost every day… it’s not the first time they’ve seen me with them) so I said “big? No way! These are my work earrings. I wear even bigger ones on the weekend!!” <span>&nbsp;</span>I don’t think they believed me…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Speaking of which, I believe it’s time to go!</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-5430917880805120592011-10-12T00:00:00.000-07:002011-10-12T00:00:11.609-07:00Week of September 26th to 30th<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aaah, back to work after a week of retardedness. Not too genki today for personal reasons but class this morning actually went well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I had first period with Yuka in 1-6 and I ended up teaching the whole thing because it was a 45 min lesson and the chimes were broken and we started late… anyways, it went well. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then I had 2-4 with Shigeki and of course Masaya was a nutcase… he kept saying something about me having miso in the brain? “miso tariru” or something? Anyways, it was very easy to understand that it meant that I’ve got a few lose screws… lol. He also asked me if I was wearing fake lashes, and said that it was better with my nails off. (I took them off about a week ago…) Then at the end of the class, I forget why but I said to him “thank you darling”. I mean that’s just kinda normal for me to call the kiddies “honey” or “sweety” or whatnot, but in Japanese, “darling” is the word you use for your boyfriend, and Manaka heard me call him that and she went “she said darling! darling!!!” and wouldn’t stop giggling… I think he got upset because he started babbling on about me being “rebound” again and honestly, it was kinda incoherent. Then after he was like “Vanessa don’t reboud, ok? you can’t gain weight again. no way! ganbatte!” LOL. I can’t help it, I love him so much even though he is an annoying little fuck. but it’s also painfully obvious that he tries extra hard to be annoying just to have my attention ^_-</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then in 3<sup>rd</sup> period with 3-1 it also went well. It was my first time having regular English with them since the end of summer vacation and the vibe was definitely very different. Minami was falling asleep on her desk with her mouth opened. Nichika and Kouki were being SUPER loud, and it was kinda annoying, but they were being loud while answering the questions and actually doing the work, so… Also, when I walked into the class during break, Nichika and some other boys were playing at hitting each other on the legs with towels…… :/ yeah, I don’t get it either. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Ooooh boy… Nami just walked by my desk to go talk to another teacher (with another friend), then she backtracked and came over to whisper that I was “very very cute”, walked back to the other teacher’s desk, then backtracked again and went “Vanessa… I love you!” in her super random “Nami tone”, and I laughed and said “me too honey” and she walked off again. Then she ran into her homeroom teacher and told her in Japanese “I was just doing English conversation with Vanessa! look, look!” and she dragged her over to me and repeated the whole “iloveyou/me too” scene for the benefit of the teacher, who patted her on the shoulder. LOL! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">There is this full length mirror on the wall of the level between the ground floor and first floor… the staffroom is on the 1<sup>st</sup> floor, and the lady teachers’ toilet is on the ground floor, so if I have to use the toilet, I have to go downstairs and walk in front of the big mirror all the time. Well, I just did that now, and on the way, I heard voices from above me going “I am Vanessa, I like Vanessa…” and at this point I was almost at the end of the stairs so I dunno if they were talking about me cuz they saw my reflection in the mirror, or if they were just randomly talking about me, but I decided to wait for them at the bottom, around the staircase to let them know I had heard them. The look on their faces as they saw me was just priceless. Three 2<sup>nd</sup> year boys. Shock, followed by embarrassment and a shy grin. tihee!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">My two chalk girls just came over and were like “oh Vanessa! You cut your hair!” (in Japanese) and then one of them goes “color?” and I say yes, I colored it a bit, and she goes “green”. lol. Indeed, the toner was a bit too strong and some bits of my hair have a greenish tinge. It’ll wash out in a day or two, but yay my dear sweeties for your complete lack of tact. Then they started talking about how the color was actually quite nice, and petting my hair saying it was really soft and going “iiiiiii naaaaaa”. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Ex-fattie 3<sup>rd</sup> year boy (I forgot his name… I swear he lost like 30lbs over summer vacation! I should ask him his trick!!) was asking me if I was cold in the hall on my way… then Yuta, the quiet baseball boy with glasses comes over and joins him, showing me that he was wearing a HEAT TECH shirt… wtf… It’s 23C outside… and then, as I started to argue with them about how it’s not really cold, Rina grabbed my hand and just dragged me back to her classroom with her. I didn’t even have class with her class…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">During class with 3-5, Hasegawa sensei may or may not have made a sarcastic crack at my lesson planning skills… she went “let’s play Vanessa’s fun game! We are so thankful to Vanessa for making this great game!” and I was like “Really lady? It’s battleship… either you are a bit of your rocker, or you are making fun of me…” either way… meh. It IS a fun game, so shut up! Plus the kids love it and it fits the grammar point. End of story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Just now in the staffroom, Kouchou-sensei stopped by my desk, pointed to my shirt and went “steki”. I went “huh?” cuz I wasn’t sure if he had said “suteki” really fast or something else, but no, he went on “suteki… kirei… iro ga kirei… niau”. (wonderful, beautiful, the color is beautiful… it suits you well). I mean that is a lot or super random praise coming out of nowhere from the principal. So cue me saying thank you and blushing like an idiot. I guess I should probably mention that my shirt is pretty form-fitting too… so he was probably just looking for an excuse to stare at my tits… oh well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">3-2 in the afternoon with Hasegawa-sensei went well. Daisuke kept practicing this dance or speech thing he was supposed to do as the leader of his team for sports day (more on that retardedness later…) and it was kinda funny but kinda annoying. Dan and Kota had their comedy act going again and kept going “he is stinky! you are stinky! I am stinky!” and doing funny poses… during the game I was trying to explain what a nickname was, and so I said “my name is Vanessa, but my friends call me Nessa. It’s my nickname” and so on the way out of the classroom in the hallway, Dan was like “hey Nessa!” thinking he was very funny. Also I had a little posse of boys following me around, Kota was going “hey, what’s your name?” and I’m like “Vanessa. you know my name” and he goes on, “no, no, I don’t know your name!” and I’m laughing, so I ask him “what’s your name?” and he raises his arms and shoulders and goes “I don’t have name!”, all the while, Nichika and Kouki from 3-1 have appeared out of nowhere, asking me if I’m heading to their class for sentaku English next period. I said no and they looked super distraught, then kept walking along with me, Dan, Kota and whoever else was there. As we passed the door of their classroom, I heard Minami yell “Vanessa!!!” and Kouki yelled back “Vanessa inai! there is NO Vanessa!” lol. The whole thing happened within about a minute. It was really odd.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then I had 2-6 with the kid who no longer has chubby cheeks and is so cute. I made him my little assistant for the game demo. mwaha.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And now for the retardedness. Earlier today, I asked Hasegawa sensei why today was short schedule and she said “because we will have sports day in the afternoon”. So picture me super confused cuz, didn’t we just have sports day on Thursday? Surely I didn’t dream all of that… No, no. I was quite sane. Apparently, instead of having sports day ending around 6pm on Thursday, someone had the bright idea of leaving it unfinished, and then adding an extra two hours today AFTER SCHOOL for the races that were missed because we started late. Most retarded idea ever. Of course no one told me, and I didn’t go to the enkai and left before the end so I wouldn’t have known, but still. I’m pretty sure everyone expects me to be outside right now, and the kids would probably like it if I was cheering with them, but A) I don’t have my sporty clothes (not that it matters really, but you know) B) it’s really sunny and I have a fucking headache, and C) I learned about it about 2 hours ago, I am not mentally prepared for this shit. So fuck that. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-1. On the way I always run into all the first grade students going to classes in the main building so I have a million kids in a row going “hello!” to me, and then Eitaro passed by and went “hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!” for seriously like at least 30 seconds, and it was really funny, and then his friend told him (in Japanese) that he was crazy and they ran off to class cuz they were late. lol. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Schedule was all fucked up again. Why?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Third period was 1-3. That tiny kid with the strange name and a beauty mark under his eye was mumbling something that was meant to be funny in Japanese, but I couldn’t understand (it was a slang word I didn’t know) and then he stopped and started going “I am a dinosaur!” and I just laughed and said “you’re too small” and he looked at his friends all confused so I said “chiccha-sugi” and he made a face and all the other kids laughed so I felt a bit bad and said “maybe you’re a baby dinosaur…” and he carried on going “I am a dinosaur!” I left him to it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Fourth was 2-1. The “cool boys” were discussing who was using hair wax in their hair (they’re not allowed. also they’re 12. lol) and I accidentally spit on gyaruo boy and he made a big show of wiping himself. Oops. Ayumu was being his usual attention-seeking-little self. and Wataru kept turning around to look at me during Shigeki’s part of the class and if I looked back at him he would smile shyly and look away. Cuuuuuute!!! I want to adopt him, seriously. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period was 1-2, Yuka’s class, but Yuka was absent today and I was teaching with that weird sub girl… Ok, I’m mean, she’s not weird she just looks really stuck-up :p Anyways, my lesson took all of the time so I was teaching the whole lesson.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was with 2-3. Did I mention I LOVE 2-3? They are so freakin’ adorable… A few of the boys are totally in love with me and always come to talk to me super eagerly during breaks, but as opposed to the brats in 2-1 (whom I also love…), they are SUPER well-behaved during class, which makes teaching them a pure joy. They are like your dream class as a teacher, basically… always eager to answer your questions and do what you say. Anyways, I walked into class to Kazunari shouting “Vanessa, I love you!” at me, and a few of the other boys giggling, like they’d dared him to it. He had a bruise or something on his bottom lip so I asked him “What happened? Did someone punch you?” and he goes “no, no, no! sick!” I made a face and went “oh, did you kiss somebody?” and he went all red and laughed, saying “no, no, no!” again. lol. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">During class, when I asked for volunteers (I needed 2) Daiyu and Jun’s hands shot up almost before I could finish my sentence, and then Kazunari looked all bummed out that he hadn’t been fast enough. Cutie. At the end of class, they came over to chat again (the same group of boys) and Kazu was like “hello. my name is (last name) Kazunari, nice to meet you!” and so I said nice to meet you too and shook his hand. Then Daiyu also went “Hello. My name is (last name) Kazunari, nice to meet you!” and I said “no! You are a liar!” So they’re all going “lion? he is lion?” and then cracking up, so I explained what liar meant, but they all kept on “he is lion! haha!” so I said that actually I was a lion. Well a leo. and I tried explaining the zodiac to them but it just flew right over their heads, and I didn’t know the word in Japanese. At one point, cutie-pie Yusuke was like “Vanessa, ganbatte!” (which gave me an inner “awwww”) cuz I was trying to find the words, but in the end I just couldn’t. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">As I was walking out the door, Marina (one of the girls who likes VK) chased after me and asked me something in Japanese and all I could understand was “Miyavi”. She was basically asking me if I was following him on twitter and I said yes, and she was like “oh, I have a twitter too! Your twitter name is Vanessa?” and I went “eeh……….. chotto chigau” (it’s a little different) and I kinda smiled and ran out. Not that I don’t love her but… I REALLY don’t want her adding me on twitter! :/</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After lunch I googled some stuff about the zodiac and printed it out so I could go and show it to the boys from 2-3 again. They were chilling in the 2<sup>nd</sup> year hallway and so a bunch of other boys from 2-1 also showed up and they were all trying to see their horoscope… but of course it was all in English so they were kinda frustrated, haha. Daiyu and Kazunari seemed pretty peachy though ^_^</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was 1-4 with the sub again. Went really well. Everyone was so genki… Akira was adorably confused again. I went to help him answer the questions, and the first one was “who is your best friend?” and he was thinking and answered (ever so slowly, cuz that’s how he does everything “jaaaa…. Vanessa ni shiou…” (I’ll choose Vanessa) and his friend in front of him laughed and so I put my arm around Akira’s shoulder and went “yeah, me and Akira, we’re best friends!” so he went ahead and wrote “Vanessa” on his paper. lol. and then later on, one of the questions was “what’s your favorite food?” and I was explaining while giving my own answers as demo, and I asked the kids if they knew what my favorite food was, and they started throwing random guesses and I was like “no, no, no…. Akira, what’s my favorite food?” and at first he was confused and then went “Ha! Takoyaki!” and he looked sooo pleased when I said “that’s right”… it was adorable. and then he went “yappari, kansai-jin da ne…” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Hideaki (the little grumpy one, I always call him Hideki… oops!) was also in a super chipper mood. He kept joking around and even waved me over to help him out a few times!!! I was so pleasantly surprised! Later on, as I was checking answers and giving out stickers, one of the boys did something silly (I forget what) and so I exclaimed (to myself) “he’s so cute!” and one girl nearby heard me and went “cute?!” and so I said “yes, I love ichinensei smaaaall boys. They’re so cute!” and a bunch of the girls laughed as she translated for her friends. Then I nudged her and said that Hideki was my favorite one, but don’t tell him cuz it might make him angry. And that’s when they told me I was saying his name wrong. Also they laughed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Oh and also, the very first activity was that the kids had to identify 3 famous people and write who they were on the paper. The pictures were: AKB48, Lady Gaga, and Sakurai Sho (a member of Arashi that at least 80% of the girls at my school are in love with). Now the two kids in front of me kept going “ano hito, dare?” (who is this person?) like, over and over, and they recognized Lady Gaga but not the other two, so after yet another “ano hito, dare?”, I said to them – in this really huffed up, polite Japanese voice “honto ni nihonjin desu ka?” (are you really Japanese?!” and they laughed and the little boy made a serious face and went “honto ni Canada-jin desu ka?” lol! it was so cute.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">6<sup>th</sup> period was 3-6 with Hasegawa-sensei, Taisei was being his usual class-clown self, but even more than usual. Plus, all the boys were sweating buckets since they were just returning from gym class, and then they all put their sweaters on?!?! I was like WHY are you putting your sweaters on when you are dripping with grossness?!? but they seemed to think I was the weird one… eeeeeh. Japanese people, I don’t get you. Masamitsu was back to his too-cool-for-school self, unfortunately, and pretty much refused to do anything the whole class, except when we played battleship at the end. We made them pair up with the person next to them and Taisei went “eeeeeeeeeehhh?!?! Crap!! If I played against Masamitsu, I’d be sure to win!” which I thought was kinda mean, but they’re like best friends, so whatever. Masamitsu was playing with Yuta, and then at the end, when Yuta won, him and Taisei were talking and I heard “well of course, nobody can lose when playing against Masamitsu”. Aaawww!! No wonder the kid hates English!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Thank god it’s Friday, is all I have to say.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I really hate when I have all back-to-back lessons because a) it’s really tiring, and b) I can’t really remember what happened in the earlier classes because they get supplanted and I have terrible memory, so I can’t record anything good for this blog. meh.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period was regular English with 3-4 and it SUCKED. They have just completely checked out, they are so lazy and they do fuck all. Even Hasegawa sensei looked like she just didn’t care anymore. It’s a bit sad. Ryota refused to play the game because I made them pair up with the person next to them instead of their friends, and then at the end he still got up to come and get a sticker and I was like “HA! I think not!” and he tried it twice! Kid, how dense can you be?! I went over and chatted with him at one point and he informed me that it wasn’t just English he didn’t give a shit about, he just hated school in general. Oh well, now I know.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After that, I had 2-2 with Shigeki, and I can’t really remember what happened except that I was chatting with a bunch of girls before class and they were like “oh… your eyes are blue! Contacts?” and anyways, same old conversation but I told them that everyone in my family except my mom had blue eyes. I said my mom had green eyes and they freaked “green?!?!?” and then one of the girls asked “how about their hair colors?” which I thought was a really funny question. So I said most of them were either light brown or dark blonde… Oh yeah! and then Ayaka ran over and sneakily pulled something out of a bag to give it to me… it was some kind of leaflet/small magazine thing, that was just full of pictures of Shou from Alice Nine. lol. This is the second time she’s given me stuff from them. Actually, he looks really hot in all the pictures so I was a bit giddy! hahaha…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was 3-3, and though I was starting to be really dead by that point, I was cheered on by the fact that they were so much better than 3-4. I kept having to go check up on Tomoya at the back of the class cuz he was always pretending to read or pretending to write, and he would basically do it only if I was standing next to him. also had a nice little chat with Koudai about how he looked like a monkey and I was way more crazy than him. fun times.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">finally, 4<sup>th</sup> period was with 2-5 and since the only funny thing that happened was at the beginning of the class, when me and Mizushima-sensei were gonna do the model reading, the kids were just supposed to listen and not repeat, but after I said the first line and as my JTE was starting the second, this one kid Shinji launched into it in this super loud voice, but he was the only one and he quickly noticed and finished the sentence in slow motion and looked super embarrassed and everybody laughed. He’s a good kid though so it’s not so bad. also, I had them play a memory card game, and normally it takes about 10 minutes tops for any given team to finish finding all the cards, but this one team was SO bad at it, it was just kinda hilarious! I even went and sat with them for a while and they just kept turning the same cards around over and over cuz they’d forgotten they had… Anyways, it was just funny.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And now it’ 5<sup>th</sup> period and something’s going on in the gym and I am NOT moving. God, I’m so tired. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Peace out, folks!</span></div></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-47262313154642184192011-09-25T22:46:00.000-07:002011-09-25T22:46:02.126-07:00Week of September 19th to 23rd<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This week is a little bit retarded. Monday’s a public holiday, and so is Friday. So we only have a 3-day work week.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So I came into work after the long weekend, completely dreading the 5-classes day that was waiting for me, only to look at the schedule board and find out that there are only 2 periods of classes today! and it’s the first 2 in the morning, turned into period 5 and 6, so it means I only have ONE class! I’m so happy, I would do a little happy dance of joy! if I had any energy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Ok, I am really not at my best today. Class with 3-1 was so-so and part of it was my fault cuz I had no energy. Even though Minami was REALLY into it, kids kept dicking about, the whole listening-to-the-story part went waaaay over their heads, and Seiya was doing his science homework and then getting out of his seat to dance or act up when I wasn’t looking and then looking not-so-guilty every time I caught him doing it. Kouki randomly blurted out “Vanessa’s eyes are so blue!” at one point while we were teaching new words, which lead to a 2 minute OT discussion about my eyes (she is wearing contacts… no she isn’t…) by their little posse. Then at one point I was trying to explain that there was a bit of French in the song, and Shigeki-sensei butted-in that he could speak a little French (yeah right…), and all the kids went “sugoii sensei!” and he’s prattling on about how he studied French in university, and that “J’ai” means “I”, which a) it doesn’t, it means “I have” and b) the French that was on the paper was wrong, cuz I printed it off some lyrics website without checking and just noticed for the first time. So I go “Oh, Shigeki-sensei, you can speak French? I speak French!” and then he goes, to the students “that’s right, Canada people can speak French too”, which was followed by more OT prattling about how it’s my first language, and then of course the kiddies were like “speak French!” but everybody was kinda talking at the same time, and I was a little annoyed, so I just launched into lots and lots of French until everybody stopped talking and was staring at me with big eyes. Then one of the kids went “was that English or French?” and before I can answer, Shigeki-sensei is like “Eigo datta” (it was English) and I just turned around with this “really?! dude, really?!!” look on my face and blurted out in Japanese “furansugo datta!!” (It was French!) and he laughed and was like “oooh, I made a mistake!” but seriously dude, if you’re gonna pretend you speak a language, shouldn’t you at least be able to tell when someone is speaking it? *sigh* I guess that gives you pretty much an idea of how good an English teacher he is……. :/<span>&nbsp; </span>Yeah. Anyhow, we continued the class with Minami trying to coax me into singing but I wasn’t really feeling it. Then we finished like a minute early so Nichika made me put “GaraGara Go” (Big Bang song) on and then was like “they’re singing in Japanese. I want the Korean one” and I’m like “really, kid? really?!!” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Can I go back to bed now?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Um yeah, so there’s a typhoon? Classes are cancelled. No one told me this might happen although I guess I shoulda known. What I’m pissed about is that apparently everyone was told to bring a bento in case this would happen, and I wasn’t so I have no lunch and I’m stuck here. Might just fuck off at lunch time…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aah, well, I didn’t. I actually couldn’t have even if I’d wanted to cuz the trains STOPPED. Now I’ve been in Japan for a while and usually they are always going “wah! wah! typhoon! wah! wah!” around this time of the year and all that happens is a bit of heavier-than-usual rain and no one’s the worst off for it. But this time it was actually pretty scary. I’m kinda glad I was at school because it’s a big giant concrete building so it was probably the safest place to be. The wind was blowing crazy hard, and the rain didn’t abate til late in the afternoon. I went out for lunch with some of the other teachers, and when we left it was just raining, but when we came back, the 5 seconds it took for us to get in and out of the car basically left us drenched! 5 seconds! and it only got crazier after that!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Since the trains had stopped, Yuka offered to drive me home after school, and it was kinda lucky for her cuz she got to leave early too. (says she usually leaves at 8pm or so…) It had stopped raining by the time I got home, but the wind was still blowing pretty strong all the way through the night.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Well, today was sports day after all! (They had been debating wether or not it would happen all week, since it kept raining and there was the typhoon and all). There was no rain, and even a little bit of sun, but mostly crazy wind and it was really COOL. and by that I’m referring to the weather. Like the typhoon had blown away all the summer heat/humidity. You didn’t see me complain there. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Sports day itself was kind of a bore. After 3 years, this was the 4<sup>th</sup> time, and I really don’t care anymore; it’s always the same thing. I spent most of the morning wandering the “cheering area” where the kids who weren’t competing were, snapping pictures and cheering for whatever team. I was wearing a school polo shirt, but it was white and so everyone was like “Vanessa, are you cheering for the white team? no, no! cheer for (insert whatever color here) team!!” there was also the traditional passing around of my sunglasses and snapping pics of the kiddies trying to look cool wearing them, and mostly, nothing that memorable comes to mind.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Oh, Kazuma did disappear at one point, which made me laugh, cuz seriously, that boy… It’s like he’s doing it on purpose just to put the teachers all in a huff. He would also walk over to go cheer for his friends who were in other teams, and got kinda scolded for that. Some of the kids who graduated last year and two years ago also showed up…. mostly yanki boys with bleached hair :p I saw Akito! XD a bit later I saw a few of them chilling with Kazuma… why am I not surprised?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The “cheering” competition started right away in the afternoon, and I was expecting dicking around with the setting up (so I stayed in the staffroom a bit longer after lunch), but there wasn’t any so I missed the first half of the yellow team’s performance, and I was kinda sad because that was Minami’s group and I know they put so much effort into it… from what I saw, they were the best because every other group sucked really bad, except maybe the purple team. Honestly, it’s like they weren’t trying at all. Last year’s performances were all REALLY good, so this year’s were a bit of a disappointment honestly. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I don’t know who won in the end cuz I sneaked off before the end. I didn’t care, and didn’t wanna get cornered about not going to the enkai. Actually, there was a fuck up and no one invited me. Then Mizushima-sensei asked me about it earlier and I told him and he was like “omg, really?!” and I had a feeling that he was gonna try and ask around so I could come (I’m sure nobody would mind), but I was actually pretty happy to not have to go, since I was REALLY tired at the end of the day, and it was an extra 40$ in my wallet. What I think happened is that Asai-sensei (he is the hot teacher who never talks to me) was in charge of asking me if I was coming. He asked me if I wanted the bento for the day, I said no, and he must’ve asked me about the enkai at the same time and I didn’t hear or understand, but he thought I meant no for the enkai as well. I mean, something was obviously lost in translation here, but I’m pretty sure the mistake was on his end cuz he was so fucking nervous about talking to me and getting it over with. meh. Whatever.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">If you’re interested in pictures of the kiddies, let me know. also if we are friends on facebook, they weill be up there in an undetermined future.</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-15677030471130252482011-09-15T22:27:00.000-07:002011-09-15T22:27:12.105-07:00Week of September 12th to 16th<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1<sup>st</sup> period was with 1-7. They cheered a bit when I walked in the class cuz I think they weren’t expecting me. Eitaro and that kid with the bouzu haircut who’s kind of a brat were being SUPER excited! and I was like “it’s Monday, you guys… what the fuck?” lol, but they were so cheerful and cute it really made me smile. Eitaro was like “are we playing a game today?” super expectantly and I’m like “yes” and he goes “yaaaaay!!”. *squeeeee!* class went alright. They’re not up to the grammar point of the game that I prepared (for Yuka’s class) so I half-assed some other game last minute, but they liked it, so ^_-</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then was sentaku with 3-3, first time since summer vacation so we did the Katy Perry song. It went well and some of the girls were trying to tell me that I looked like I lost weight at the beginning of the class, which made me super happy, eheh. I said I wanna lose more and they were like “gambatte! fight-o!” lol. Oh, and during the break before class, Dan and Kota from 3-2 were lurking in the doorway and trying to chat with me, and Kota asked which class I was going to, and I said 3, and he asked “don’t you have class with us today?” and I’m like “no…. are you sad?” and out of nowhere busts out Daisuke, huge token grin on his face, and he goes “no! very very happy!” and I’m laughing and say “cuz you don’t like me right?” and he goes “so!” while the other boys are trying to protest that it’s not true, they love Vanessa. lol. I left them to it cuz class was gonna start.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was the same lesson with 3-6, first time again. Two more girls told me that there was “something different about me today” and asked if I lost weight. Now it’s either this outfit, or I really have lost enough weight to show! yay! Class went well too, I’m kinda surprised. Masamitsu was there (with dyed hair! shokku… it was only a tiny bit brown, but it is the seeds of a bad-boy, I’m telling you) and kept dicking around with Taisei, but surprisingly did the lesson work the whole time. Jumpei kept getting up trying to get stickers when he didn’t get a perfect score, and Taisei was like “aww… I think I’ll give me sticker to Jumpei, poor thing”. lol. (He didn’t) At the end of class, Mizushima-sensei told the kids they should check her videos on youtube, and I added (to try and entice them) that some of them were a little bit sexy so I couldn’t show them in class, and he translated that to the kids as being “chotto ecchi” :/<span>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Only in Japan, man… only in Japan…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">5 classes today… I will possibly die…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1<sup>st</sup> period with 2-2 went well. Very sleepy. Ayaka asked me if I’d bought Alice Nine’s new cd yet… lol, and I had a conversation with the “twins” from 2-1, I told them they don’t look like twins anymore (cuz one of them cut her hair and stopped wearing glasses) and she was like “eeeh…! You’re telling me I looked like her?! You’re insulting me!” lol. that pair reminds me of a duo of stand-up comics… they’re hilarious!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In 2-1, they were especially well-behaved today… well except for Ayumu who kept pulling his (freakishly long) tongue at me, and his little friend Adachi next to him who couldn’t stand still… Ayumu had totally gelled up his hair this morning (it was standing up and was hard if I touched it) and when I asked him about it he was like “No! No gel! No wax!” yeah sure, bucko… At the end of the class, we were playing bingo and there was about 1 minute left but we’d finished all “5 chances” and Rei was like “lasto! one more!” and I was like “no, no…” and they kept asking and so I told them “maybe if you beg me…” and so the teacher translated “beg” and they were like “onegai! please!” and I’m like “no, no, you gotta get on your knees” and he went “eeeh!!” like he wasn’t gonna do it, and the whole class laughed. In the the end, Ayumu got up from his seat and came to kneel down in front of me to ask “please, one more!” and I just laughed and said ok. mwahaha…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On the way back to the staffroom, I ran into Daisuke who was like “oh no, we have sentaku later!” and his friends are like “why is he saying that?” (in Japanese) so I say it’s because Daisuke doesn’t like me and one of them goes “he crazy boy”. Then, Imari came up and (noticing my pigtails) went “Vanessa mata ime-change?” (you changed your image again?) and so I said “yes! everyday ime-change!” and he nodded thoughtfully and mumbled to his friend “I wonder what it’s gonna be like tomorrow..” lol!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">2-3 went well, they went a bit crazy at the end of the game though, but in a good way. Basically they had to ask the same question to 11 people and then I would give a sticker to the first 10 people to finish… but! they had to have no mistakes on their paper… Now, every single person had at least ONE tiny little mistake so I’d make them go back to correct it, and it turned into a contest of who was gonna have a perfect paper and get the sticker. lol. Every time I would go “spelling mistake!” or “listened-ED!” or “it’s not basketbool” the whole class would just go up in a collective “oooh!” and cheer… lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was 3-2. They were really less than enthusiastic about the song, Dan and Kota were absent, and Daisuke spent the whole time making little disses at me. Then he was like “please give me sticker!” and I was like “no way! you keep saying bad things to me!” and he kept on “please please!” so I said “ok, you have to say “Vanessa, I love you!”” and he went “nooooo!!”. lol. Anyways, we carried on, and then later on, he waves me over and tries to explain that he CAN’T say that, can I please make him say something else. and by that point of course I’ve figured out that the girl sitting next to him (Ayano) is his girlfriend and so I asked “oh, you don’t love me… do you love her?” and he super confidently answered “YES!” while she went “no, no, no…” and he went “eeeeh?!” to her. Seriously. Cutest thing ever. He still didn’t get a sticker though.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">6<sup>th</sup> period was sentaku with 3-1, and mostly it was just Shigeki-sensei dicking around with the students. I figured it was completely pointless to try and stop him from translating everything I say (even though it’s a listening activity… :/ ) so I just let him prattle on… My usual little posse was genki as usual, but a bunch of kids were nodding off and Seiya was just being useless not doing anything and I went over a bunch of times to try and coax him to work but it didn’t really work. One time I was pointing at the song lyrics as they went to try and get him to follow, and he saw my nails and went “sugoi tsume!” and then he tried to get everyone near him to look at my nails and then giggled to himself “nanka, gyaru-teki na~” (it looks really gyaru) which gave me an inner giggle myself. At the end of class there were about 7 minutes left and Shigeki gave them “free time” and Minami used it to distribute some home-made (with tin foil) daggers for their cheering dance for the sports festival. “We are pirates!” she told me. So of course I stole one and started play-fighting with Kouki. :p I asked them who had designed their dance and they said Nichika and Minami, and then she added that they were also gonna do a dance performance at the chorus contest. Which lead to the next question “Vanessa, are you gonna sing this year?” I said I didn’t know, but I’m pretty sure I won’t since I haven’t been asked and it would be too last minute for now, I guess. The last two years, I sang (one time a whole song, and one time just a one line solo) but the kids basically go crazy when I do and treat me like a rock star for the next two weeks. Honestly, the attention-whore in me wishes I could, but it’s kind of a bother as well…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aaah, I forgot to write today… everything went fine. Had 3 classes and a really busy afternoon planning my Lady Gaga lessons for tomorrow… The only funny bits were Imari popping in when I was getting coffee and going “mata ime-change?” with a cute little grin, and two little 1<sup>st</sup> year girls going “oshare, Vanessa” as I walked out of school, putting my sunglasses on. Then they went “bye bye, oshare Vanessa!” waving me away. Cutest thing ever. (“oshare” means trendy or fashionable)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Get ready for a looooong day! 5 classes! God, I hate this fucking constant A-week schedule!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1<sup>st</sup> period with 3-5… yaaay! My Lady Gaga lesson went down really well! ^_^ Well, that’s to be expected, but with these kiddies, you never know… The funniest part was definitely Shigeki-sensei perving over the half-naked pictures of miss G. Now he is going on and on to the other English teacher about how it’s the best song he’s ever heard… lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was 2-4 and Shigeki-sensei ran way over his time, so mostly I just stood at the back of the class discussing various pointless things with Masaya. He wasn’t being too much of a dick today. I told him him he had really big eyebrows, and then he launched into this speech about how his eyelashes were too long, and it really wasn’t cool for a boy to have long eyelashes… lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period with 3-4 SUCKED. Mizushima-sensei spent the first 10 minutes of class trying to fix one of the fans (and failed) and I couldn’t start the lesson before he was done because of course all the kids were staring at him. They enjoyed the song, but most of them didn’t even try to follow the words, which pissed me off. Ryota was making a show of himself at the back of the class, dancing along to the music, which was both hilarious and infuriating. I told him that he should come and dance for us at the front of the class and he was like “no, no, no!” and stopped… for like 20 seconds. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was 1-5… these kids are really good and the vibe of the class is so nice… when I walked in, Akane and the girl in front of her where going “Vanessa kawaii! cute! cute! very cute!” and then they tried to get the boy in front, Mao, to say that I was very cute and he got super embarrassed which was so funny. Then, Aoshima-sensei walked into the class during the silent minute (mokuso) and there was this stray bits of hair that was standing straight on his head, and I tried to tell him before the kids opened their eyes, but then the bell rang and I couldn’t. of course, as soon as they opened their eyes, they all noticed it and started giggling, which means that of course I started giggling too and then couldn’t even look at him, I had to walk off a bit or I would burst into uncontrollable giggles. See, the thing that makes it even funnier is that he wears a toupet, so… lol. I think he must’ve heard one of the kids say what was wrong though because the next time I turned around, his hair was back in order. eheh…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Last period of the day was 2-6, my first time with them in ages. Went great of course, this kid Yuya kept stealing these shy glances at me and then smiling. He is too cute. The funny thing is that he used to be a BRAT in first year… now he apparently has a crush on me. He also used to wear glasses and now has contacts… coincidence? Another funny thing, although it’s not something that happened, but just something that noticed. This other boy (I forgot his name) used to have these big giant chubby cheeks, and now, he came back from summer vacation and they’re gone! His face completely smoothed out and he is starting to look like a young man! It’s hilarious because it’s hugely noticeable since I haven’t seen him in nearly 2 months… aaaah! My babies are growing up!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Also, on my way out, I ran into the radio kids and Imari was like “bye bye Vanessa!” and I so I said bye and asked him “today, ime-change?” and he paused, looked me up and down and went “no ime-change”. lol!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period and second period with 1-6 and 1-4 went fine but nothing too entertaining happened, and I was soooo sleepy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">During the break I ran into Daisuke on the stairs, and he stopped, waved me over and went “saigo no kyoku…. last song… high standard” and he’s gesturing with his hands above his head. “like, like!” and it was kinda confusing, but I basically understood that he was trying to tell me that he’d liked the last song we did in class together (Adele). I thought it was cute because at the end of the class, when I asked the kids if they liked the song, he went “no! Avril Lavigne only!” and I scolded him telling him he was looking at the world with blinders on and he was like “no! Looking only one way is ok!! Avril Lavigne only!!” lol. cutey pie.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then, like 5 minutes before the end of the break, Mizushima-sensei came to ask me if it was okay to do one of the music lessons with 2-5 (it’s his homeroom class) and I said sure and prepped the Justin Bieber lesson since it’s the easiest. The English level mostly went way over their heads (as expected) but they’re a good class so they did well, and everybody liked the song. Well, except for Atsuya who was just kinda sitting there twiddling his pencil, looking like a deer in headlights whenever I said anything in English… lol.</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-16066050621975393452011-09-11T20:21:00.001-07:002011-09-11T20:21:51.408-07:00Week of September 5th to 9th<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Monday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Due to tests, I ended up having only one class today, 1<sup>st</sup> period with 1-7. Nothing much happened except that Aoshima-sensei super randomly told me that I could leave the classroom after I was done playing my game… I mean, I think he doesn’t get the “assistant” part of ALT, so I was like “no, no, it’s fine” and kinda just wandered around watching the kids for the rest of the class. And it was as I was standing at the back of the class contemplating life, that I noticed this one kid, who sits at the back of his row, that Yuka told me about on the day of the volleyball game. This boy has been absent for most of the 1<sup>st</sup> semester. She said he was being bullied. I wondered why cuz he’s really cute and doesn’t seem “challenged” in any way, and then she told me : “he thinks he’s a girl”. I was just kinda floored. You mean to tell me these teachers have this kind of information, and they basically do nothing about it? I’m surprised they even acknowledge it at all. Anyways, so I was staring at that boy, and that’s when I noticed… he was wearing a bra under his shirt. :/ I guess Yuka wasn’t pulling my leg. It just kinda blew my mind though. My heart goes out to him so much, and I really wish I could do something, to show him that I like him or I’m there for him or whatever, but I really have no idea…. deep thoughts for Monday morning, first period…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Tuesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Busy day today!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">First period with 2-2 went well. Nothing too much to report. Oh! But Ayaka (the girl who loves Nightmare) came up to me with a little plastic bag after class and went “present for you”. Inside the bag was an Alice Nine poster, and a book about Saga (A9 member)… it was so random and sweet and cute! I don’t like Saga (and the book is all in Japanese) but I was really touched!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then I had class with 2-1 right after and all my brats were super loveable. Ayumu spent the whole class trying to make me crack up from across the room, Rei spent most of the class going “I speak English! I don’t speak Japanese! I no Japanese!” and I my kid who has LOTS of white hair dyed it black over the course of the summer vacation. Everybody was surprisingly fun and well behaved and it was so enjoyable.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Then I was supposed to have class with 2-3 but Mizushima-sensei said not to come, and I was really happy cuz it meant I could have a break.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was sentaku with 3-2 and it went so well, they are so awesome. I love them. I made them do the aisatsu 3 times though because when I went “hello!” they kept replying this super weak, wimpy “hello…” back to me… I think they enjoyed the song, but they also told me that Katy Perry was not cute, and confirmed to me that really, they didn’t like foreign girls unless they were blonde… *sigh* I actually said that “blonde hair good? black hair bad?” and they nodded. *shakes head* Dan and Kota were really funny and kept trying to ask me questions in English (most kids don’t bother and will just ask in Japanese) and Ayumi was being really silly and cute too. oh, and everyone loved my nails :p At the end of class, after aisatsu, I asked Daisuke “why are you guys so bad at aisatsu today?” and he looks at me with this huge grin and goes “it’s because we don’t like Vanessa!” and I went “eeeeh!!!” but kinda squealed it and some girls went “chou kawaiisou!” and of course I knew he was kidding and I went “but you guys are my favorite!” pretending tears, and he went “too bad! We very very don’t like Vanessa!” grinning like a fool. Brat. </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">Oh, and in the hallway, Ayumi was going around asking another teacher if he liked Evangelion, and then she just went bonkers when I said I could sing the Evangelion song. She went “omg! omg! you like Evangelion?! omg! xxx is so cool! omg! she likes evangelion! omg! omg!” (in Japanese) really, like so freakin hyper I couldn’t even get a word in. lol. tried to tell her that I saw the anime once, years ago, but it didn’t really register and she went off bouncing happily. LOL.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">6<sup>th</sup> period with 3-1 went awesome, which made me so happy, although – again – I was pretty much teaching just to the little posse of Nichika, Kouki, Minami… but they were so into it. Nichika must’ve eaten some sugar at lunch because he was SO freakin hyper… he even busted into a couple of body-builder muscle-showing moves completely randomly at one point, and the kids kept giggling because I was always laughing at him. Nao actually knew Katy Perry, finally! Oh and Minami as well… and they said she was cute, so I was happy. Also for pretty much the first time I had a positive reaction to the song, which made me happy too. Shigeki-sensei also enjoyed himself, he was totally perving over the pictures (which the kids totally teased him for) and told me he really enjoyed the song. haha.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">1<sup>st</sup> period with 1-1 went well. we played the quiz game again and they were much better at it than the other class (answering the questions really easily) and there was this one team where every time they picked the color for the question they would ask this one kid to say it, and everyone would just giggle cuz he would say “bu-buuu” instead of “blue” and “pi-n-kuuu” for pink, etc. it was super cute. Poor kid though. He’s one of those ones that still look like they’re in elementary school so they’re adorable.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">On my way back to the staffroom I ran into Yuka and Nami (3-1) and they spent like 5 minutes explaining to me (using Japanese I didn’t understand) that they could see the tan lines from my socks on my legs… lol. I’m wearing a skirt today.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was the same lesson with 1-3, and man, what a bunch of zombies! It took twice as long as any other class because it took them all ages to select a card color for their questions, and even longer to answer the damn questions! It was ridiculous. Even Aoshima-sensei told them in their “daily class comment” that they were much to slow and doing things today. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period was with 1-2, which went much better. They were so good and fast at answering the questions that they went through the whole deck of cards! They were all cracking up when the name “Hidetoshi” came up in one of the examples… the sentence was “My father’s name is Hidetoshi” an one kid went like “yeah, it’s a Showa name…” (Showa is the period of the emperor before the current one… everyone older than 23 was born in the showa period, so indeed, it would be a name their fathers would be likely to have) anyways, I thought it was such a random/smart comment that it cracked me up. Good kiddies!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5 classes today! <span>&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Century; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: Century; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">がんばります！</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">1<sup>st</sup> period was music lesson with 3-5. Again. This month, because of sports day, every week is A-week schedule, which means that I have sentaku every week. So I had to plan a new music lesson already. This time I’m doing “Rolling in the deep” by Adele. As far as I know, she isn’t even known at all in Japan, and thus my kids have no idea who she is. The style is also a bit different than usual, and I was worried that they wouldn’t dig it at all but I thought I should show a variety of styles too. Anyways, this class, which were right proper zombies when I did my Katy Perry lesson last week, really liked the song!! (wtf?!) A bunch of them were bobbing their heads along, even Shigeki-sensei was trying to sing along at one point (which cracked me up) and I was requested to play it a 3<sup>rd</sup> time so they could try extra hard to find the missing words. I’ve never seen such enthusiasm from the class that my JTE just dubbed “the no reaction class”. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">3<sup>rd</sup> period was 2-4 and Masaya showed me how much he had missed me by being his usual annoying self… also he grew a mullet over the summer :/ everyone participated in doing the activity well though, even the little group of too-cool-for-school kids who sit on the right side of the class, so I was happy.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period with 3-4 was kinda blah. They definitely didn’t enjoy the song as much as 3-5, but whatever. I was kinda bummed that even Shiomi-kun was passed out on his desk,</span><span style="font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family: Century; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;ＭＳ 明朝&quot;; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: Century; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-US">cuz he’s usually the only one spouting answers at me. Oh well. I think they are being worked really hard for the stupid sports day, so I’ll forgive them…</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">During lunch break, Mamiko-sensei asked me to help her with the English in Shione’s diary. As I corrected it she commented on my nails being so cute. This is what I mean when I say people are kinda clueless here… I’ve had them on for 3 weeks and it’s the first time anyone’s said anything :p I know Hasegawa-sensei’s noticed them though cuz she’s given me “the eye” when I pointed stuff out to her on a paper, but as long as she doesn’t actually say anything out loud, then we’re good :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">5<sup>th</sup> period was with 1-5 and they clapped and cheered when I entered the classroom… I think it’s cuz they thought they wouldn’t have a test (they still did, after my game :p) but still, how can you not feel loved? ;p They really got into the game, which made me really happy. One of my question cards was “this is my father, _____ name is Hidetoshi”, and Akane was in tears laughing because that’s actually her father’s name. :p At the end of class, two little girls came chasing me down the hall to have a look at my nails. lol.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">6<sup>th</sup> period was supposed to be class with 2-6, but Mizushima-sensei told me not to go again. I think he’s starting to take some serious liberties about when he says that, but at the same time, on a day like today where I am dead on my feet already, I really can’t complain about being given a free period. Oh well.</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday</b></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">It’s Friday, yay! I have 3 morning classes today and if I can get through them it will be the weekend!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">1<sup>st</sup> period with 1-6 went well. We did the quiz game and they finished all the cards too. Then I went over to 1-4 for the next period and I saw Akira and Hideki dicking around by the water fountain. Hideki is the little one who always looks grumpy… he is tooooo cute! XD Anyways, they were like “oh it’s Vanessa today…” and said hello and then Hideki cocked his head at me and went “nanka, dekai!” (which is really vague and means “kinda big”) and his friend cracked up and I assumed he meant I was tall so I patted him on the head and went “nanka, chicchai” (kinda small) and his friend just pissed himself laughing. After more consideration, I think he may have been referring to my boobs… :/<span>&nbsp; </span>Anyhow, we had the exact same lesson as the class before and it went well. There was this one team (team no.2) with this really shy kid called Tatsuki, and every time they had to answer a question, they made him answer and he would just take a deep breath and say it really seriously… cutest thing ever. :p</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">4<sup>th</sup> period with 2-5 went well. They were such little troopers and didn’t cheat at all during the game. I commented on it to Mizushima-sensei and he said, “Oh? Which classes cheat?” and I said I couldn’t really remember but in Shigeki sensei’s class they tend to speak more Japanese cuz he’s way more relaxed, and he said “yeah, he’s an old man.. he’s too kind to the students…” lol!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US">And now… freedom!!</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-62187895209988522882011-09-01T22:46:00.000-07:002011-09-01T22:46:07.978-07:00week of august 29th to September 2nd<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Today is the first day back to school. There was the “opening ceremony” in the gym this morning, but it was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that Kazuma went “missing” again (i.e. he was ditching) and then there was an earthquake drill and then the kiddies went home while the teachers had meetings in the afternoon.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Thursday</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Today is the first official day of school. On my way in, I heard a mysterious “good morning Vanessa!” and turned around and nobody was there. It was a bit weird, but since the entrance is right next the broadcast room, and that I think I recognized Imari’s voice, it just made me giggle and I replied “good morning!” to my invisible student :p</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Oooooh man, first class with 3-5 bombed horribly. I thought they might be a little vedge after summer vacation, which is why I prepared a song by Katy Perry instead of some obscure Canadian band, and not only did they have no idea who she was, but the boys all told me they didn’t think she was hot. wtf?! You could hear flies buzzing the whole time, especially when I asked a question, and only Kiyo half-tried at anything, and I kept picking on Ryohei cuz he was right at the front, next to me. Oh yeah, and Kazuma slept from bell to bell :/ Actually, when I showed up to class, Hasegawa sensei was scolding him… eh. Hopefully next one will be better!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Ok, so 3-4 was actually much better, THANKGOD!! They were still clueless and I was still pretty much only teaching to Shiomi-kun (he’s the only one who has any idea what I’m saying at any time…) but at least they showed a bit more enthusiasm than 3-5, even if a few of them were falling asleep by the end of the song… I blame it on the return from the holiday and hopefully it’ll be better next week.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I couldn’t reach Aoshima-sensei today, or yesterday, so I just went to see him now, 10 minutes before class to ask him if he wanted me to come. He said he’d forgotten we had class together, so to please not come. Eheh, some things are still the same, I guess. It’s kinda funny tough cuz on my regular Thursday schedule, I’m supposed to be having 5 classes. I ended up having only 2… oh well!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday!!</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Ok, I’m in a super mood this Friday! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Showed up to school to an empty, airconed staffroom… mysterious, but I think it’s just the weekly meeting they usually have on Mondays that’s going on in the gym right now… not bothered enough to go check it out. Got only one class today cuz of post-vacation tests…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aoooo.... apparently I don't have any classes today after all :( Mizushima-sensei said I didn’t need to come because he was just giving back test results… eh… I was kinda looking forward to seeing the 2nd year kiddies. Oh well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Happy Friday!</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: left;"><br /></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-52389132654184502032011-08-29T22:38:00.001-07:002011-08-29T22:38:55.199-07:00Summer Happenings<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So. it’s summer vacation now. which means, no classes and I’ve sitting on my ass all day for the last month or so. There are some kids at school, here for club activities, but not that many, so chance/funny encounters are kinda rare, and therefore there’s not too much to say.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Wednesday july 27<sup>th</sup></b> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">lol. Imari and dan just came over to ask me for my ipod speaker… (I use it to play the songs for my music lessons cuz it’s easier than burning cds) I guess they’re going to use it to play music to unbore themselves while they count bellmarks or something… still. It was kinda random and funny :p </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">lol. And now (2hrs later) Dan and Kota have just returned it. Dan said “thank you very much”, and then “very much” again, with a little bow, 3 more times while Kota giggled. I think they were looking for an excuse to stay here but had nothing to say. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Friday july 29<sup>th</sup></b> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I left about an hour early to go drop some stuff off at the BoE on Friday afternoon. School was really quiet, with no students and only about 3 other teachers in the whole school. So behold my surprise when, as I almost reach the teachers’ shoe locker room, I hear my name being screamed out and suddenly get attacked by a big yellow blob of human. I looked down at who was the little creature hugging me fiercely, and lo-and-behold, it was Shinobu! Honestly, I should’ve known because that was pretty much her exact behavior when she was still a student here. I realized that she’d popped out of the nurse’s office as Ayaka soon followed suit, and another girl whose name I can’t remember cuz I am a bad teacher. Only Ayaka was wearing a school uniform and the other two wore casual clothes, Shinobu’s being very very yellow. lol. She looked so cute and had cut her hair. They all had pretty much the same short chipped-bob haircut. we chatted a bit but I had to say goodbye quickly or I was gonna miss my train. As I was about to go, Shinobu grabbed my hand and looked at the inside of it. I had scribbled “BoE” on the inside to remind myself to go and explained to her what it meant. She showed my hand to Ayaka and went (in Japanese) “I thought it said BoA”. lol. we said goodbye and I was like “please come see me again” and Shinobu just stared at me blankly and looked to Ayaka and I shook my head and said “mata kite kudasai!” and Shinobu went “hai!!” and gave me a big serious bow. lol. Love that kid.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>August 4<sup>th</sup></b> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Atsuya #2 (I have 2 favorite Atsuyas in 2<sup>nd</sup> grade… one is this genki little over achiever, and the other one is dumb as shit, but highly entertaining. This is the second one) is in the staffroom now. I think he’s been forced to do his history homework or something. He’s been sitting at the empty desk his front of me, twiddling his pen, tapping his fingers on the desk and alternatingly starring into space. lol. When he catches me looking at him, he gives me this dumb embarrassed grin and I just giggle. lol. Can’t help it, he’s just funny even to just look at, eheh.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>August 5<sup>th</sup></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">awww… on my way out after school, I ran into Aoi (chibikko… last year’s speech contest kid) and her friend at the station. She was all dolled-up and dressed up super cute and had already started growing from a little kid into a woman. When she saw me and recognized me, she jumped into my arms and I just had such an inner “aaaaaawwww!” moment. She and her friend had gone shopping at AEON and now were waiting for her mom to pick them up. She seemed really happy. I couldn’t talk much cuz the train was coming soon, but I was so happy to see her ^_^</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>August 9<sup>th</sup></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This morning on my way to school, some random lady doing her jogging (actually, I’ve seen her around before) stopped and started chatting to me. At first I thought she was just saying “good morning”, but no, she wanted to chat. She asked me if I was the English teacher (we were very near the school) and I said yes and she said I was very “nihongo jouzu” and asked where I was from, and then started babbling about how young and pretty I was. lol. She thought I was 21, bless her little soul. Oh well, that was an interesting encounter.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Now I get to school and Masaki – this tiny delicate ninensei boy – is sitting at the desk in front of me SEWING. lol. I’m guessing it’s a home-ec summer project, but it’s still rather funny. He’s concentrating so hard!! kawaii!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><b>August 11<sup>th</sup></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Today was weird. First, all the teachers had some special meetings somewhere outside of school, so the staffroom was COMPLETELY empty, except for Kyoto-sensei and the lunch lady and I all morning. Then in the afternoon, there was a stupid inter-school (with the two elementaries affiliated with our school) volleyball tournament for the teachers. In honor of that, all the lady teachers were going to lunch together. Now, I woulda been FINE just eating my diet-proof bento in the lonely staffroom and stay there all afternoon, reading a book, but no. Earlier in the week, Hasegawa sensei came over and asked me if I wanted to come to the v-ball game. In this case “asked” means “you can’t say no”. So of course I said sure and spent the rest of the week dreading it. She said I didn’t have to play but of course that didn’t happen either. while I was there, Koucho-sensei (the principal) very nearly physically forced me to play 2 GAMES… on the “shitty players side” (there were 2 fields). Lucky for me, the other team sucked even more than we did and kept giving us points by just sending their ball into the net, so it didn’t really involve too much actual physical activity. :p</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Afterwards me and Yuka went for coffee downtown and we ran into Daisuke and his friends. His friends were from another school cuz I didn’t know them, and they were all staring at me like I was a crazy person as I walked over and snapped my fingers in Daisuke’s face for him to look up (he was fiddling with his bag or something). When he saw me he went “HEEEY!” and flashed his trademark huge smile at me. I asked him what he was doing here and he said he was doing something for a Visa (didn’t really understand) cuz he was going to Taiwan. I knew some of the kids from the baseball club were going so I said “oooh!” and he went (in English) “Yes! Because, I am very very good baseball player!” lol. So I gave him a high-five and wished him luck and we left. As we were walking off, Yuka was laughing at his whole behavior and English usage. She doesn’t know him cuz she teaches first grade only. She went “yeah, you’re lucky. Students love you” :p </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Other than that, nothing much happened besides me teaching this year’s speech contest kid every other day. She has the most boring personality ever, and never says anything even when I try to initiate conversation. eh. 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:標準の表; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0mm 5.4pt 0mm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0mm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Century","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Century; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Century; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;} </style> <![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><sup></sup> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">Monday</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1-7 went alright. funniest thing that I can remember that happened was, during the “running game” (I have 2 kids go against each other and they have to run to the board and circle the word I say), this kid Naoki, who’s a little bit “off”, just yelled out this like… battle cry or something, as he ran to the board, left and right looking for the good word, and he still ended up losing to the other kid. lol. Everyone was laughing. It was pretty funny.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then I had Sentaku-class with 3-3 which was ok, just before I walked into class, I saw Ryouga who was talking to a friend and I went “Ryouga-chan! You’re not crazy today!” and went “yeah… tired!” and I said “good boy!” and left him to his friends teasing him cuz I had called him “-chan”. I love using that on my boys…. demeaning their masculinity is the funniest thing. eheh. Anyways, class went fine but we finished early and Shigeki-sensei just let them dick-around for like 20 minutes. Oh, one funny thing, during the song, at one point, I turned around and saw Shigeki-sensei trying to sing along and shaking his hips to the beat. Funniest. Thing. Ever. (he’s like 60)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After that I had the same lesson with 3-6, and they were just dead. I could get no reaction out of them, at all. Even Taisei was super quiet. meh. I know it’s hot, kids, but come on! Afterwards I had them play Pictionary with the left-over time, and they woke up a bit, but still. meh.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Back in the staffroom, I was pleasantly surprised to see that someone had turned the aircon down to 25C!! Technically, they’re not “allowed”. There’s no actual rule, but most places never put it any lower than 27C…. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After school I ran into Nao and ended up walking with her all the way to the station. She’s so cute! and her English is getting really good ^_^ she told me she hadn’t been chosen for the speech contest (which of course, I already knew) and was a bit bummed, but she said that now she was gonna try and get a solo for the chorus contest in the fall. Good for her! She also said that she did choir outside of school, and when I asked what she was gonna do for summer vacation, she said “study!” lol. Then, randomly, as we’d almost reached the station, she went “aaah, I want a boyfriend!” and I said “me too!” and then asked her if there was a boy she fancied at school and she giggled and nodded, but then she wouldn’t tell me who he was because she was embarrassed and “he’s not cool”. eheh. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">Tuesday</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aaah man, I’m so tired. 5 classes today and it’s SO hot. I have just finished my 4 morning classes, had lunch and finally can sit down. My feet actually hurt. I can’t remember last time that happened *sigh*</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">First period with 2-2 was a bit of a bore and nothing exciting happened. Then during 2<sup>nd</sup> period with 2-1, the mini-gyaruo and the kid with grey hair kept giggling at me from across the room. Then, when I came over, grey-haired boy rushed to cover something he was drawing in his book. Probably something pornish again. I tried to get him to show it to me, but to no avail. At one point, I squat down beside him do ask him something and saw his gaze very unsubtly shift down into my cleavage. Eeeh… then he asked me “sensei… sonna fuku, suki?” (lit: teacher like these clothes) and I was really confused… did he mean do I like my clothes? does he like my clothes?” and so I’m like “…… yes?” and him and his friend just kinda go “huh….” wtf. That was weird. This is not the first time I’ve worn this shirt!! wtf?! Although I get the feeling that this class is gonna be the return of the pervs, version 2.0! lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Then I did the same lesson again with 2-3, and it was really fun, and after that I had sentaku class with 3-2. At the beginning of class Daisuke and Kota and Dan and Imari (you know, the 3-2 boy posse) came over and started chatting random bullshit at me that I forgot… I just remember that I heard Dan tell Daisuke that he should tell me that I had big boobs. Daisuke shook his head and went “Ero, ero! He is ero!!” lol (it means he’s a perv or something) and I just laughed and went, “oh, are you?” and he said “no, no, no!” lol. I said “you’re a good boy?” and he said “yes!” and flashed me his huge grin. Aww, I have no trouble believing him. Then Dan came back and pointed to some random kid and went “he is ero. number 1!” and I said “in this class?” and they all chimed, “yes!”, followed by “this class! this school! all over the world!!” in English. lol. The lesson itself was pretty uneventful though. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Eh, I thought 3-1 class was gonna be ok, but they were just dead, and who can blame them, really? 6<sup>th</sup> period in this heat? Anyhow, when I was done with my lesson, there was about 20 minutes left and Shigeki-sensei told them they could do homework or whatever, and Kouki said “can we have some music?” which made me smile, but I put some on for them. After a while, Nichika, Seiya and some other boys came over to fuss over my ipod and ooh-ed and aah-ed cuz I had Big Bang songs on there. Apparently Nichika is a big Big Bang fan. Minami was like, “doesn’t he look like D-lite?” and I was like “huh?” (trying to remember which one D-Lite is, cuz honestly, besides G-Dragon and T.O.P. I really don’t know their names) and Kouki goes “Nichika, smile!” and he just kinda grinned, flashing his giant white teeth and I go “omg! He does!” lol. He’s way skinnier though… they went through about all the songs from them on the ipod, and then found the ones from the Korean drama “you’re beautiful” and were super surprised that I had them. Minami asked me which boy from the drama I thought was the hottest, but I’ve watched it almost a year ago so I really don’t remember, so I said “all of them!” later on, true to herself, Minami just randomly asked me if I drank alcohol. (I answered “yes”, cuz what else was I gonna say, really?) and then she asked me if I was “strong” (which is a question you always get from Japanese people… it refers to how much booze you can handle before getting drunk) and I said so-so. She said I must be strong cuz I was gaijin. lol. Then the bell rang. mwaha.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">Wednesday</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So apparently, from today until the end of the semester, we only have shortened classes, and only in the morning. That would be nice if it meant that I actually had less classes, but most my classes are in the morning anyways so it doesn’t really change anything.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I had 1-1 first period and all went well. The end of the lesson was having the kids practice “I don’t like”, which I enjoyed very much cuz I like bitching about stuff. On the way to class, I ran into a bunch of other kids heading to music class, and of course was followed by a chorus of “hello”s, except for Genki, who decided it would be funny to go “Nihao!” at me. He did it on the way back too. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I guess I was having a bad day that day, cuz I totally forgot to write about the two other classes I had. oh well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">Thursday</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">When I showed up to class with 3-5, Ryohei had like a crown of little pine needles in his hair. wtf. Everybody was giggling at him and I told him he looked like a forest princess and he went “hai. sou desu” (that’s right). lol. He kept them in for the WHOLE class and only took them off at the end. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">When I walked into 1-5 second period, all the kids started squealing like excited little piglets. They were like “Vanessa, since you’re here, does it mean we’re not having a test?!?!” and indeed, apparently that’s what it meant. But I told them at the beginning of class that since they weren’t having a test, it meant they had to be “super super genki” and that cracked them up.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">On the way to 3-4, these two girls started chatting with me and were really hilarious, even though the bell was gonna ring soon, they kept talking and talking… lol. one of them told me that my shirt was very sexy, and I was like “eh?” basically, there is a patch of see-through lace on the top back of my shirt… and I’m wearing a cami under… how is that sexy???</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Anyhow, I was expecting class with 3-4 to be a pain, but unexpectedly, it went really well. Because they somehow got an extra lesson over all the other classes, I didn’t wanna prepare a whole other music lesson, so I thought we were just gonna play games. first I had them play bingo with all the new words we learned from the previous songs (on 30, they remembered the meaning of about 4…. :/) and after that, we played Pictionary and it was hilarious because all the “naughty” boys got REALLY into it, and at the end, I made this one question worth 3 points, and of course everybody’s hand shot off at the same time, and even the bell had rung and nobody cared. And Bad Ryota was yelling like a crazy person “me! me!” so I chose him but I told everyone on his team “you can’t help him!!” and so everybody got quiet and he yelled triumphantly “COOKING!!” while pointing at me (which was the correct answer) and I laughed and the 3 points bonus made their team win. Never seen anybody that happy to get a sticker. lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US">Friday</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Finally it’s Friday! Man, I’m so tired this morning. But my first two periods went well and there’s only one more to go. During first period with 1-6, Yuka was having them practice “what do you drink?” and they had to answer “I drink ______” and one kid was like “nama biru!” (beer) lol. After that, every other kid came up with every kind of alcohol in the book… only in Japan… lol.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">After class I went straight to 1-4 classroom, cuz the 1nensei building is apart from the rest of the school and there’s no point going back to the staffroom for 2 minutes and then going back there, but because I was really tired, I sat down at the teacher’s desk kinda slumped and started doodling on a paper. This one kid, who is a little bit weird (but has somehow taken a liking to me) comes over and goes “kyou, nanka, genki nai yo ne” (you aren’t feeling well today aren’t you?) and I just thought it was the cutest thing. I told him I was just very sleepy and he nodded and left. lol. Then during the rest of the class, whenever some kids would notice the little doodle I’d left on the desk, they would go “hey, who drew this?” and another kid would go “Vanessa did” and the other kid would go “chou umai jan!” (it’s really good!) which made me giggle, because I’m really not that good at drawing, but it’s always nice to hear. eheh.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">During 4<sup>th</sup> period, I did fortune-telling with 2-5, and nearly ALL the fortunes involved Asai-sensei in some way, which made the whole thing hilarious. I was like “wow, he’s really popular!” til Mizushima-sensei told me he was their homeroom teacher… :p Oh well, it could’ve happened. I still think he’s hot :p</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">During lunchtime I eat lunch in the staffroom at my desk. I usually read a book while I eat. Just before I was about to start eating, Taisei (from 3-6) and that kid with the floppy hair walked in and started talking with Yabe-sensei. When they turned to leave they looked at me, Taisei went “nani kore?”, babbled some more stuff that I didn’t really understand, and then left, or tried to leave, as Yabe-sensei told them they should try and talk to me in English and they were like “no no no… we’re not good at English!” (in Japanese) and I’m like “what are you talking about? You’re like the best one in your class!” and Yabe said “really?” and then forced them to come back. Taisei walked up “shyly” (which was hilarious considering I know he’s not shy at all” and went “what’s this?” pointing at my book. I gave it to him and he went “suge” (wow) a few times, flipped it over, tried to read a few words from it and gave it back to me shaking his head. I told him “it’s easy English” (cuz it was a young-adult book) and he went “oh?” and then he said thank you and they left. lol.</span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-10191225956278346162011-07-07T21:37:00.000-07:002011-07-07T21:37:07.102-07:00week of July 4th to 8th<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Monday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">urgh. Today. I feel like I’m sitting in a pool. Fully clothed. Except the water is warm and it’s not fun. I am seriously going to start complaining LOUDLY about this lack of aircon. It’s just inhumane. Also, I really don’t wanna be here this morning, for a slew of reasons, and I am grumpy as fuck. This is gonna be a FUN day. :(</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">1<sup>st</sup> period sucked. Well, it was alright actually, but I was just in such a cranky mood that didn’t leave the whole time even though kids were fine. One funny thing at the end was, the kids were practicing reading bits of the book, and one of the dialogues was “what’s this? It’s a shogi board”. So I was wandering around, pointing to kids and going “what’s this?” and I did it to this one kid (pointed to him and went “what’s this?”) and he looked at me and went “it’s God”. lol. You’re alright, kid. You’re alright. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Then second period with 2-4 put me in a better mood. they had changed the seating arrangements and Masaya was now sitting way at the back in the middle row, and he was oddly well-behaved and sweet… well, til the end of the class when he was like “Vanessa, you got fat!” and poked me in the belly, and I replied “I KNOW!! Stop telling me! You’re gonna make me cry!” and his face dropped (I think he only understood the word “cry”) and he was like “don’t mind! don’t mind!” (it’s japanglish for “it doesn’t matter” or “don’t worry about it”) aaah, silly boy. Then he said I should diet (and I told him I already was) and he told me that we should practice for undoukai (sports day) together. lol. That made me laugh.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Then I had class with 3-1, and they were all dead, and my activity bombed cuz it was too easy and I totally didn’t care. Luckily, Hasegawa-sensei saved me and made it a bit more interesting. Before class, the girls were talking together and they came over and started asking me if I knew any scary stories. I said I didn’t and Nao was like “don’t you have any scary stories in Canada??” and I said that we did but I couldn’t remember any. I also told them they should watch SUPERNATURAL. Because it was full of scary stories, AND hot men. lol.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Tuesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">aircon is on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg, happy day!!!! If only I didn’t have 5 classes today…. *sigh* oh well. oooh, fun fact, I just turned around and noticed that the hot P.E. teacher is wearing polka-dots shorts today. Had to repress the urge to laugh out loud. Seriously. What the fuck. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Soo!! I’m such a sneaky bastard, I managed to talk my way out of going to 4<sup>th</sup> period. eheh. well, it was a bit of a pain, cuz the schedule changing to A-week for a day only meant that I was supposed to go to sentaku class, and I just told Mizushima-sensei I hadn’t planned anything cuz it was “out of pattern” and he was like “please stay here”. and I am glad to oblige. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but 5 classes a day sucks, and so I’m quite happy to have this break.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">All my classes this morning went well. First I had 2-2, followed by 2-1, and then 2-3. 2-3 was really energetic! I spent the first 5 minutes of class with 2-1 arguing with Ryo about WHY he had 4 bags hanging off his desk (and why he was so messy)… but he couldn’t understand my question, so much less answer me, and thus it took like 5 whole minutes for him to tell me that he had extra bags because of club… in 2-3, I tried to teach “Whats’ up?” to Kazunari, and by the end of my explanation, the whole class was super quiet and one kid went “iiii naaaa… Kazunari, you got Vanessa’s attention all to yourself” and he was kinda embarrassed. mwaha. They really enjoyed playing the game though. I’m happy when I do activities and kids get into it ^_^ </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">LOL! Minami is such a cracker!! I think I just had the best lesson with 3-1 ever. They’d been pestering me (mostly Minami) to do the Justin Bieber song, so I fetched the old posters and reprinted some papers, and off I went. First of all, when I showed up to class, Ikuto (the weird kid) got up from his seat and came over to me with his arms stretched wide, going “neeeeeeeeeeee Vanessaaaaaaaaaaa tuskaretaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” and gave me a hug. LOL. It’s pretty hilarious because I think that is the only time a kid actually hugged me of their own volition. Usually, they kinda reach in for one and then shy back. lol. I don’t mind hugging you, kiddy, as long as you don’t try to make a grab at my tits, all is well. then when we started the lesson and I started the “listening” activity, I had to shush Minami several times because she would just exclaim and comment every time I added a new information “eeeeeeeeeeeh?! Justin Bieber likes chess?!?!? sugoiiiii!!! kakkoiiii!!!!” lol. Anyways, it was really funny, and much better than a class of zombies who don’t participate. Then, during the song, when it goes “baby, baby, baaaaby…” Minami exclaimed “eh? is he saying ‘akachan, akachan’?” and everybody just burst out laughing at her and I explained “in English saying “baby” is like saying “honey”. It means his girlfriend” and she went “aaaaah….” lol. After that they made me play the Simple Plan song that they didn’t get to hear last time (cuz I’d forgotten to charge my ipod and it died) and I was kinda happy they still wanted to hear it. Then, we just kinda dicked around until the bell. Minami went “nee nee… kono postaa, chodai?” (can you give me that poster?) and I went “sure” cuz I was just gonna throw it away anyways (they’re just laminated color copies from the computer) and then some other kids went “EHHH!!!” and Nichika and Nami fought for the other 2 smaller pictures. lol. Then, being the silly girl that she is, Minami asked me to “sign” the picture with Justin Bieber’s name, so I obliged, and then I had to do the same for both other pics. Hilarious.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">After classes, I ended up staying at school a bit later than usual, cuz one of my old fangirls, Hana, was coming to visit. Actually, I don’t think I’ve mentioned Hana in this blog before, because she left halfway through the year, before summer vacation last year, to move with her father to Canada! and about 2-3 months before the big move, she started sticking to me like a freaking magnet, begging me to help her with English (and even French at one point, though she gave that up fairly quick) and making love declarations to me at all hours. She was friends with Miho, my #1 fangirl, and so whenever the both of them were around, it was just a big Vanessa love-fest. lol She even told me one time, that she wished she could be a boy, because then she could be my boyfriend, and would get really angry when I would say I didn’t have a boyfriend and say “that’s impossible!!!” lol. Well anyhow, she was a sweet kid nonetheless. When she left for Canada, we exchanged emails sporadically, and recently she mailed me to say that she was coming back to Japan for the summer. Last week, she mailed me to say that she would be coming to school this Tuesday, so would I please stay until 4:30 to meet her. haha. Well anyhow, she showed up around 4:20 and attacked me with a hug. she had her old friend Aria in tow (Aria is sooooo freakin’ tiny! she could pass for a 7<sup>th</sup> grader easy) along with a friend of hers from Canada who was Chinese, and an older woman whom I – at first – thought was her mother, but it turned out being the other girl’s mom cuz they launched into this Chinese speech at one point, baffling me. Anyways, we chatted for a good 10 minutes, her English was nearly perfect as she understood everything I was saying, and poor Aria was standing there not getting a word… Then she said bye and went off to chat with Kyouto-sensei. It was nice to see her! It looks like she’s pretty happy. She told me finals were HARSH! lol. Well yes, guess what, in Canada, you actually have to study to pass!! : p</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Wednesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Today is Wednesday so I come early for the weekly meeting. And as I’ve mentioned before, sometimes students see me coming into the school grounds and yell at me from the windows. This morning it was Daisuke from 3-2, waving at me with his body almost halfway through the window (I thought he was gonna fall) and I yelled at him “you crazy!!” and he went “what? what? I don’t listen!” He meant “I can’t hear you”, but it made me smile. Today is gonna be a good day. Except that there’s no aircon… *cries*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">First class with 1-1 went fine, but then at the end of class, Aoshima-sensei asked me if I could come to 5<sup>th</sup> period to do the time lesson with 1-7, because their class with me has been getting cut for the last two weeks and they haven’t done it. I think it’s the first time ever anyone asks me to make-up for a lesson that they missed… how weird. I’m kinda cranky about it though cuz today is my only day this week where I have only 3 classes. fff… I was looking forward to having the afternoon off. buuut, I guess not.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Then I had class with 2-1 and the kids were like “eh?! Vanessa again??” and Ayumu started a little chant that went like this “kyo Vanessa… kino mo Vanessa… everyday Vanessa”. lol. (the first part means today is Vanessa, yesterday was Vanessa too…) then I was just dazed and bored for the whole 30 minutes of Shigeki-sensei’s lesson, and at one point, I let out this huge yawn and the whole row of kiddies next to the windows turned around to look at me and grin. eheh. Afterwards we played battleship, and I played with Yuma, the little kiddie who is a bit weird and often just draws on his desk for the whole class. He was concentrating so hard while we played though! It was cute. But he was really slow and we didn’t have time to finish. At the end of class. I had to explain (again) to Rei and Ryo that “winner” and “weiner” were two different words, and then they were trying really hard to say “winner” properly going “I am a WINNER” and I was like “no, you are a weiner” :p lol. I am so easily entertained.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">One of the teachers in the staffroom just told Hiroko (3-3) “you’re the student council president, you can’t wear your hair in a bun!” I’m sorry, what?!?! she said “dango dame da ne” dango is like a little ball… so I’m assuming that’s what you call it when you kinda lazily flip your hair kinda halfway… either way, why is in wrong to wear your hair like that?!? Japanese are so weird…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">In happier news though, aircon is back on! &lt;3</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 1-3 sucked. Well, it was fine, but could they have been any LESS genki? sheesh… seriously. And also I asked Hasegawa-sensei about the auditions for the speech contest and she told me it was AFTER 5<sup>th</sup> period, and not during, so I have no excuse to get out of teaching an extra class with Aoshima-sensei. Pooh. There goes all my free time today.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Aww… so as I rushed in to class with 1-7, Aoshima-sensei was in the middle of a little speech to the kids that pretty much went along those lines “Vanessa is supposed to have free time now, but she’s coming here just for you cuz we haven’t had classes together in a long time. So let’s be really genki for her, ok?” and the kids all went “HAAIIIII!!!” super loudly. bless my heart. Well, 1-7 is a good group anyways, and it has my wee little baby Eitaro in it, so it went fine. :p</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Around 3pm I had to listen to the speech contest “auditions”. There is a speech contest for English in my town every year, and it’s usually my job to “train” whichever poor sucker gets picked to do it during the summer holidays. It sucks because it’s boring, the chosen kids usually have no personalities, and most of all, they don’t stand a chance because the winners every year are always hafu kids with perfect English. But whatever, this year there were 3 girls who wanted to be “it”. Kasumi, Sae and Nao. Honestly, I wanted Nao to win, only because I like her and spending most of the summer vacation together would be way more fun, but we ended up choosing Kasumi cuz she was slightly better than the other two. and I do say “slightly”. Actually, I had to fight with the other teachers to get them to pick her, because her pronunciation was the most “Japanesey” and they don’t like that. They don’t understand that having an “American” accent for a Japanese kid is nearly impossible, and that that’s not what they are going to be judged on. meh. Let the fun begin… :/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Thursday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Today is quite nice actually. It’s raining, and it’s humid, but it’s only about 24C and with a nice breeze, so even though a/c is not on, I’m not sweating like a pig.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">1<sup>st</sup> period with 1-2 went well. Yuka has them do silly chants on a cd at the beginning of every class, and today was a new one and the beat was really funny, like an attempted rap, and there was a little “huh-huh-huh” pause in the middle, which was hilarious and both me and the kids kept cracking up. also, while the kids were writing their bingo cards, I was chatting with this boy and girl who were sitting next to each other at the front of the class and they were both very cheerful, and at one point they started going to each other “this is Naoya. She is very cute” in English, (Naoya is a boy) and then he said “This is Yuri, she is not cute” and they kept on insulting each other in their very very limited English, and it was just hilarious. Tetsuya’s brother was still grumpy. I really dunno what’s wrong with him….</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oooh, I was supposed to have 2-3 just now at 4<sup>th</sup> period, but since it’s the second time this week cuz of the weird Tuesday schedule change, Mizushima-sensei just asked me not to come. Sweet! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Lol. It’s after lunch time and a bunch of the 1<sup>st</sup> year boys are standing near the entrance to the staffroom, and the door is open and I can hear them going “Vanessa… Vanessa… Vanesssssssa…” and I turned around to look at them and they giggled and left. wtf.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Aawww, afternoon went really well! First I had class with 1-2, and I swear half the boys were on crack, and I asked them “what did you eat in kyushoku, crazy-boy pan?” and they just thought that was the funniest thing in the world. These two boys at the front, Akira and Shogo, kept giggling to themselves and I went to pester them a bit. They wouldn’t stop laughing so I wrote “CRAZY” on Akira’s face in orange marker. He totally let me!!! lol. Teaching in Japan is so much fun. I get away with a lot of dumb shit I wouldn’t back home, eheh.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Then 6<sup>th</sup> period was 3-6, and for some reason they weren’t sleepy at all, although I suspect it’s cuz they’d had swimming class just before. One of the boys refused to turn on the fan cuz it was “cold”. I wanted to punch him. Luckily, a bunch of other students were all for it, so we turned it on. Rina got all excited cuz we had the same hello kitty towel (in Japan, in summer, it gets so freakin’ gross that you must carry a small towel at all times just to wipe your face… fun, eh?) and Taisei was freakin’ hyper and kept commenting at EVERYTHING that Hasegawa-sensei said. Then we played the music-dice-game where I would ask them questions that started with “tell, show, or teach me” something. When Taisei’s turn came up, since he’d been such a cracker all class long, I asked him “tell me a joke” and he went “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhh?!?!!!!”, you have to understand that this is kinda hard for their level of English. Then he went “ok. I love you.” and I laughed. Fair enough, boy, fair enough. That was funny. Then I asked the last boy “teach me how to write my name in kanji” and what they (cuz the whole class was helping too) came up with was “horse”, “cat”, and then some kanji that read “SA” but didn’t really have any meaning. Teppei and a bunch of the other boys kept cracking up cuz the first two kanji together read as something else (I forgot now) and apparently that was a funny word, but they refused to tell me, so I think it must’ve been a bad word.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">On my way back, I was walking down the hallway and I hear “hello!” I turn around but there are no kids behind me. Then I hear it again, two voices “hello, hello!” I’m all wtf and peer into the nearest classroom but the lights are off and nobody’s in there. I continue walking and Dan, Kota, and another boy’s faces pop up from the second door of that classroom I was looking into and are all laughing and waving at me. I try to open the door to their classroom, but it’s locked. “Why are there only 3 of you in there?” I ask, and they start laughing, and Kota goes “we are magicians”. So I say, ok, show me a magic trick. And then they did some kind of drumroll thing, and Dan stood there sideways, pretending to pick his nose. lol. At that time the rest of the class started trooping in, and Daisuke started yelling “hello” and “crazy girl” at me, so I took it as my cue to leave… lol.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Friday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Argh. This morning is horrible. It feels like being in a swamp outside, and in the classroom it’s like being in the shower fully dressed. The aircon was on first thing in the morning in the staffroom, but as I have class all morning, what does it matter really? Also, I didn’t get much sleep last night and my contacts were shitting in my eyes all through first period. Which didn’t go all that well, might I add. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Just before class, I spotted Ryouga and another of the baseball boys “playfully” bullying Takaya. Takaya is also one of the 3<sup>rd</sup> year baseball boys, but he still looks like he’s 10. He’s super tiny and short. Anyways, I think they were trying to “kancho” him (stick their fingers up his ass, gun like… don’t ask… Japanese children are weird… although it’s way more likely to happen in elementary school than JHS, but nevermind) and he saw me and he went “Vanessa! Make them stoop!!!” in Japanese, and so being the bully that I am, I just smacked Ryouga on the ass with my teacher’s bag. Takaya escaped, and classed started, but Ryouga spent at least the first 5 minutes of class bitching about how I was a violent teacher, I’d hit him and blah blah blah. I just laughed at him, but later in the class, Hasegawa-sensei asked me “Did you hit Ryouga? He is a sensitive boy, so it’s dangerous!” and I felt super bad (although Ryouga, sensitive? really?) I wanted to argue, but it was really quiet and all the kids were listening so I said I’d explain the situation later. Anyways, class was really boring, they were just dead, and even the game failed to rouse them much. Bad Ryota was absent though, so that was one less thing I had to worry about. as soon as the bell rang, I went over to Ryoga and asked him “did I hurt you? are you ok? I’m really sorry if I hurt you, I didn’t mean to” and he just laughed and said he was totally fine, and Takaya laughed too and said “awww, the teacher’s worried about you!” and they ran off and I just shook my head. wtf, Hasegawa-sensei… he is not a delicate boy and I was right and you made me feel bad for nothing. Anyways, after that I explained to her the situation. that I was just “saving” one kid, and hadn’t meant to hit him hard, and she went “ok… I see…” so I dunno if anything’s gonna come out of that. I hope it’s all good :/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Anyways, I was grumpy about it, and about the heat and everything else, so I just decided to fuck off 2<sup>nd</sup> period. That’s right, I am ditching. Well, to be fair, 2<sup>nd</sup> period is with 2-2, with Shigeki-sensei and I’ve already seen that class this week because of schedule changes, but he is so old and confused he probably won’t even notice that I’m supposed to be there. Usually he doesn’t know that we have class until I go tell him. And if god forbid he does notice, I’ll just say that I was confused cuz of the schedule changes and pretend to be a dumb gaijin. Fuck it, everybody is allowed to have bad days and nobody else teaches periods 1 to 4 back to back. meh. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">3<sup>rd</sup> period was reading test with 3-3, which was completely uneventful except for the fact that I seem to have caught a cold and kept sniffling terribly (which made the kids laugh at me) then it was 2-5 with Mizushima-sensei, who had forgotten I was coming (see what I said before?) and then let me start my game way too early, so that everyone was done playing it 10 minutes before the bell and I had to improvise. I felt so tired and listless and sneezy though, that I did fuck all and just chatted Mizushima-sensei the whole time the kids played battleship. Only in Japan would kids totally do the activity as expected with nearly no supervision from the teachers, eheh.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">on the way back I saw Bad Ryota who had mysteriously reappeared… with bandages around one of his feet and arm :/ I dunno what happened to him, but he seemed otherwise ok. I also ran into Kazunari, who was chatting with Seiji and I went “what’s up!” and he just looked at me all clueless so I had to explain all over again the whole “what’s up/not much” scenario… *shakes head*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">I’ve also been informed that this afternoon is the ceremony to choose the new student council president (from the 2<sup>nd</sup> year kids) but I already asked Kyoto-sensei for nenkyuu to leave at 2pm and it’s been approved so I will miss it. Oh well, it’ll be a surprise when I get back…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">til then, enjoy the weekend!!</span></span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-60426714650910784312011-06-30T21:41:00.000-07:002011-06-30T21:41:32.634-07:00week of june 27 to july 1st<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Monday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">I had no classes today, and because it was SO hot (and there is still no aircon in the staffroom) I just moved as little as possible. So I didn’t encounter many students.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Tuesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Back to the grind! Supposed to have 5 classes today, but thankfully, I only have 4 cuz Mizushima-sensei cancelled one.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">1<sup>st</sup> period was 2-2 with Shigeki, and it went fine and the kiddies enjoyed the game. 2<sup>nd</sup> period was 2-1 and Ryo &amp; Rei were acting crazy again but it was fun. Ayumu was surprisingly quiet, and the most troublesome ones where mini-gyaruo and his friend in the back. They wouldn’t shut up. A fun thing that happened was that, when I went over to watch Ayumu’s team, the little boy sitting next to him (I forget his name…) was trying to put the elastic in his hair… so I went “give it to me” and gave him a little front ponytail. lol. It was hilarious and he was soooo cute!!! Even the girls on the team were squealing “kawaiii!!” and he kept it like that for like a good 5 minutes. lol. He’s one of the minis. At the end of the class, Wataru came over and quietly helped me take my pictures off the board. he is sooooooo cute!!! XD</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 3-2 was really good. I wanna go “yappari” I love this class best. Even though they were all obviously super tired cuz of the heat, they participated and tried hard. At the beginning of the class, Daisuke came over to chat and showed me his face and went “oh no!” He’d gotten a sunburn on his cheeks and nose and the skin was all peeling and pink stuff. I forget the word he used but I was like “peel, peel. Your skin is peeling” and he went “yes, yes”. And then he went on “lady gaga!” and I’m like “no, we’re not listening to lady gaga today” and he goes, “no no… here, Japan!”. “Lady Gaga’s in Japan?”. “No! cry!” me: “huh? lady gaga is crying? why?” and he goes “tohoku!” lol. I guess lady gaga made a video for the victims of the tohoku earthquake or something… anyways, he seemed to be touched by it and I thought it was funny.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">6<sup>th</sup> period was class with 3-1. It was actually my FIRST TIME to have a music lesson with them because their class was always getting cut cuz of the schedule changes. Minami was a bit bummed because I wasn’t doing Justin Bieber, but she got over it. They seemed to enjoy the listening part, giggling like little idiots when Shigeki-sensei said that the translation for “I can’t stand it” was “gaman dekinai”. Now, that’s actually fairly accurate, but in Japanese, when you say that, it kinda has a sexual connotation. Like boys will say that when they are making out with a girl or something and they wanna have sex… it’s kinda like “I can’t hold it” or something… Anyways, I forgot to mention it, but every single class giggled at this. Then, when we got to the song, it started playing for like 20 seconds before my ipod died on me. I had stupidly forgotten to charge it this morning so it was kinda inevitable, but I felt kinda bad since it was their first lesson and they didn’t even get to listen to the song! but Minami yelled at me “Don’t mind!”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oh yeah, before class, Nami was standing outside the classroom, looking dazed as usual (what is up with that girl these days?!) and I asked her “what’s up?” and she told me that she wasn’t very genki because she didn’t have a boyfriend anymore (she was dating Dan, remember? my black fan-boy with the hair?) and she asked me if I had a boyfriend and I said no and we commiserated together. I think she’s gonna be another one of “those”… like Miho last year, and Maki before that… always worried about boys, aah, poor thing.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oh hey, btw, I have chalk girls this year! They are two 3<sup>rd</sup> year girls, and they’ve been coming up to me during cleaning time to get chalk for about a month now, I think. (They showed up in the staffroom and I was the only one there… now they come straight to me) Anyways, they come over “Vanessa, white chalk please!” and so I get up to go over to where the chalks are, and as we’re walking one of them asks me “Vanessa, boyfriend?” and I’m like “no no no…” and they say “Paul wa?”… see, yesterday, a friend of mine (named Paul) came to teach a lesson to the 3<sup>rd</sup> years because he teaches high school and a bunch of teachers from various high schools were coming to do demo lessons to entice the kids to go to their school… he also happened to tell them how old I was! damn him! But never mind that, I said “no no, we’re just friends” and they went like “yeaaah, he said that too…” looking all disappointed. lol. Then they said, “but we saw the purikura of your boyfriend last year”… and so I replied that people break up, you know! I dunno why the kids are so interested in my love life… </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Wednesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">At the morning meeting earlier, Kyoto-sensei made a little speech about the aircon, and told us that he knew it was hot but that we should “mou chotto gaman shite ne” (bear it a little bit longer). Well fuck, how long is “a little bit more”?! *grumbles*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">First period was with 1-1 and it went well. I really like this class. Ayaka’s brother (I should really remember his name) was especially cute and genki, along with the usual</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">On the way to class with 1-3, I ran into Minami, who proudly told me that she’d been chosen as one of the group leaders for Sports day. It’s a big deal, and usually mostly boys get chosen. Basically, the whole school will be split into 6 groups (1-1, 2-1, 3-1 together… 1-2, 2-2, 3-2 together, and so on) and they have sports competitions all day, and a “cheering” choreography… and each group has a “leader” and it’s a big deal. Anyways, I gave her a high-five and told her I was proud.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 1-3 was a pain. They were dead and stupid. I dunno if it was the heat that was making them stupid, but how hard is it to say “3 o’clock” in English, really? For fuck’s sake….</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Right after that, I had class with 1-2, which was enjoyable, and the kids were much more genki (except for the one I think is related to Tetsuya and Tatsuya… he was being a little dick). At the end of the class, this one kid at the front, Kengo, was pulling stunts and the kids around him told me “he is Lady Gaga”. And then Yuka showed up and she said the same thing. She said “he is Lady Kengo.” and I’m like “you can’t call him lady, he’s a boy!” so I whipped out a bunch of random silly names til I came up with “Mister Gogo” lol. And they all loved it and she promised to call him that from now on… </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Thursday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Fuck it’s hot today… well, again. Actually, it’s not as hot as yesterday, but more humid. I don’t have classes until 4<sup>th</sup> period today because Shigeki-sensei is absent (he’s at the hospital for some reason… for tests and stuff) today. I am NOT complaining because I am supposed to have 5 classes today.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">lol. Domoto-sensei just came over as I was just staring at the screen, looking like a limp noodle, and he stopped in front of my desk and gave me the usual “good morning!” with his big dorky smile. That’s probably the only English words he knows. Anyhow, he was holding this big laminated paper in his hand and started fanning me with it! going “atsui desu ne” (it’s hot isn’t it) and my reply was a pained “atsui yo!” with pleading eyes that I hoped expressed my desire for aircon… anyhow. It was just so random that he started fanning me…. he left like 5 seconds later…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 3-4…. well…. first of all, you KNOW that’s not my favorite class to teach, but today was worst than usual. Everybody was just dead from the heat – the baseball boys most of all, who were all passed out on their desks. I can’t be mad at them for it cuz it really is fucking hot and it’s cruel and inhumane to expect us to work (and kids to study) in these conditions. Plus, the kids had club yesterday after school, and it was super sunny and 35C+ and the baseball kids always get worked the hardest, and I just felt so bad for them. Most entertaining thing that happened was me drawing a little heart on Ryouga’s face while everybody else watched and giggled and he totally did not wake up. He had to be shoved awake when we did aisatsu (greeting) at the end. lol.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 1-5 went really well, but there were a bunch of parents and little grade 6 kiddies prowling the hallways and popping in and out of class, which was annoying. Then I had class with 2-6, which also went well. The funny bit was when I asked 2 kids to come up and demo the game with me, nobody volunteered and Mizushima-sensei picked these two kinda shy boys to come up, and their responses were just so funny and delayed, everybody cracked up, but they were actually pretty good little assistants. Everybody was just dying from the heat though, and this class doesn’t seem to get as much “wind” as the others, cuz it’s in the corner of the building and the fans are in weird positions… anyways..</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oh yeah, something funny did happen earlier. I think when I was on my way to class for 3-4. The kids from 3-2 were all coming down the stairs (and I was going up) to go to P.E. or something, and some of the boys were walking down 3-by-3 taking the whole length of the staircase. Dan was right in front of me and I kept going up thinking “he’ll move”, but he didn’t and then he parked in front of me, one or two steps above, making this gesture, pointing pretty much from his crotch to my face, back-n-forth, going “my way! my way!” I was kinda confused for a while, but I’m not sure if he meant anything sexual by it… Anyways, I told him I was the teacher so he had to move, and he kept going “my way! my way!” but finally moved, while I chuckled up the stairs. lol. What’s his deal.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Friday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Thank god it’s Friday! This week has been so horrible and hot. It’s a bit cooler today, but mostly due to the fact that it’s not sunny. Oh and I also finally learned why we are not getting aircon… apparently it’s because, since the renovations of the school, the 1<sup>st</sup> year teachers’ room doesn’t have aircon, and it wouldn’t be fair to them if the rest of us had it. Supposedly, they are supposed to fix that? Eventually? Fuck. What do I care about fair?? They can come work in here… *sigh*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Anyways, today I have 3 classes, all in the morning. Not really up to it. 1<sup>st</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup> period were 1-6 and 1-4, and they both went well, and mini-kid Hideki decided he was having a good day today and wasn’t grumpy. lol. I have to stop myself from going “aaaaaawww!” every time I see him, cuz he’s too freakin adorable.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Last class of the day was 2-5 and it went very well. I felt a bit bad showing them pictures of amazingly delicious-looking food just before lunch, but what can you do? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">So. I’m sorry if it seems nothing much is happening these days… it’s just so hot that I think nobody has the energy to be funny. Now on that note… TGIF, bitches!</span></span></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-32141791088510980212011-06-27T18:57:00.001-07:002011-06-27T18:57:29.026-07:00Week of June 20 to 24<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Monday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">1<sup>st</sup> thing in the morning, I had to record the 3<sup>rd</sup> year listening test with Hasegawa-sensei. Nothing too exciting.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Second period was 2-4 and I was kinda dreading it but Masaya was actually quite well behaved today. Wonder if anything happened or if he just had enough of me ignoring him. On the way to class, I saw some 3<sup>rd</sup> year boys (Koudai and Kota) climbing up the stairs sloooowly, holding their backs like they were little old men. I asked one of them what was wrong and he went “oshiri itaiiiiii….” (my butt hurts) and kept on moaning. lol. I don’t wanna know what they did in P.E. class… :/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">After that I had a reading test with 3-1, which was fine, and sometimes hilarious. I was surprised that Minoru (this dorky kid who used to get bullied) did the whole thing flawlessly and I gave him a perfect score. I suspect him of going to juku, or be getting special eikaiwa lessons or something… he didn’t use to be that good… in other matters, Minami, Nao (I always call her “Mao”!!) and I spent most of the break discussing piercings (again) lol. Oh and at the end of class, Minami asked me what was my next class and I said “break”. She then asked me “what do you do when you have no class?” and I told her I slept. Her eyes went wide and she went “majiiii?!!” lol. I love that she is so gullible… then I said no, I drink coffee and work on my computer. :p</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">In the hallway, the two girls in charge of English for 3-2 caught up to me and there was a very confusing conversation about me having to go there next class. When I finally understood that they wanted me to go there NOW, I told them they should talk to mr. Mizushima because it wasn’t on my schedule. They thought that since our sentaku class had been cuz last week (cuz of tests), I would come this week. honestly, I wanted to, cuz I love that class, but I just wanted my chair and my coffee at that point… if I had known in advance, I might’ve said yes (and Mizushima probably wouldn’t have minded) but I played the lazy ALT for the day. There you have it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">So, hum, yeah, I just went down from 2 to 1. Apparently… schedule changes. I have stopped caring. Eh. Off I go to my only class of the day then… for a reading test… EXCITING!!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Tuesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">This morning is horrible. I mean, yesterday was pretty humid too, but since I’d had a good night’s sleep, it wasn’t so bad at school. My aircon unit at home is OLD and completely busted, and it only works when it feels like it… apparently last night it didn’t feel like it because it kept blowing room temperature air at me, and so I slept horribly and woke up all sticky. I shiver to think at what’s gonna happen when it actually gets HOT (on top of just humid) and it makes me wanna cry… of course, there is no A/C at school, so I am stuck here in my chair, sweating. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">When I got here this morning, there was a not on my desk from Hasegawa sensei, saying that our 5<sup>th</sup> period class with 3-2 was cancelled. So I’m going from 3 to 2 classes today. Let the fun begin!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Aahh… *big sigh* things are just not going my way this week. Class went fine, and most kids did okay on the test, but then I finished early and came back into class and the JTE was giving them a pop-quiz or something, and I noticed Kazuma was just sitting as far away from his paper as he could, not writing. I went to poke him to work, and in my wake, the teacher went over to scold him and I knew it just made him more annoyed. It made me wonder if he’s like that in his other classes as well, or just English cuz he doesn’t understand. I think it might be the latter. I wish I could help him. so I went to suggest (like I do every year…) to Hasegawa-sensei if we could set up some sort of program to help the weaker kids, cuz they just can’t catch up in this system (unless they go to juku) and she’s like “yeah, sounds nice, but we can’t force them, and they have club after school”. *sigh* CAN’T you force them? You’re teachers!! What’s more important, club? or kids’ grades? Of course, club is more important, right? :/</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Anyways, ran into Daisuke on the stairs and he went “ha! ha!” at me. lol. So I just repeated it to him, and he paused, and instead of spewing his usual “you’re a crazy girl!” he went “long time no see!” and it just made me smile. Indeed, because of schedule changes and stuff, I haven’t seen his class for about 2 weeks now. cutie! ^_^</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Just ran into some 3<sup>rd</sup> year boys down the stairs (that pretty one on the student council, and the one with the freckles… although fuck me if I can remember their names…) and one went “hello!” and the other went “harro” and the one who said it wrong said to the other “heeello janakute, harro ja…” (it’s harro, not hello) and it just cracked me up so I turned around to correct them… lol. Freckle-boy’s hair was all wet and so I asked him if they were coming back from swimming class, which put pretty-boy in stitches, “no, no! not swim! P.E.! P.E.!” apparently playing dodgeball was intense for that kid. I reiterate… Japanese P.E. classes = scary!! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Wednesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">This morning, I am not feeling so good. in fact, I would have actually called in sick (I almost never do, even with migraines, if that gives you an idea) but since the BoE said they’d send someone to look at my (broken) aircon this morning, I figured I had best not be there (lying sick in bed half-naked) when they came. So I dragged my sorry ass to school. 1<sup>st</sup> period was supposed to be 1-1, but apparently there is a meeting for all the 1<sup>st</sup> years during that period, so no class. I was SO thankful, you can’t even imagine. I came back to the staffroom, sat down and held my head in my hands with my eyes closed. til I couldn’t stay up anymore and I just lied my head down on my arms right on my desk. Bear in mind that the staffroom was still full of people, and no one said anything for a good long while, bout 20 minutes in fact, when the nurse came over to ask if I was ok, and Hasegawa-sensei said I would have to give the reading test without her during second period. Why? Apparently Kazuma (yes, mr. I’m-always-sleeping) didn’t come home last night, and now they found out where he is and they’re going to fetch him… eeeeh… </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">So I ended up going home after 2<sup>nd</sup> period. I was in such bad shape… I couldn’t stand up cuz I was so dizzy, then if I sat down I got queasy, so I got back up again… getting through the reading test was horrible – I’m pretty sure the kids noticed there was something wrong with me, and even though I finished about 10 minutes before bell, Hasegawa-sensei told me to go home. So I went down chasing Aoshima-sensei to tell him that I wouldn’t be in class and only found him just before the period started, and he seemed a bit startled, but said ok. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">On the way I ran into Manaka, this little 2<sup>nd</sup> year girl, who is so tiny and delicate, but I know she has ALL the boys in the year under her finger. lol. Like, she bullies them like no other and could probably kick all their asses. Anyways, recently, she’s started telling me I’m so “kawaii” every time she runs into me. It’s kinda funny. and that time as well, she was walking next to me and as I’m feeling like death and just wanna crumple on the ground and cry, she tells me again that I’m so pretty. Aaah, bless them.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Also funny thing that happened was running into a group of 3<sup>rd</sup> year boys on the way back, and Dan going out of his way to say “hello!” to me, but raising his arm and flexing his muscles in front of my face. As dead as I felt, I just could stop laughing. Also, it’s like the 3<sup>rd</sup> time today that he’s come over to say hi (exaggeratedly) to me. Something’s up.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Thursday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Somehow, a miracle happened and I am better today. Thank god!!! There was a morning meeting first up, which I knew about because someone had kindly written on the schedule board that yesterday was “asauchiawase NASHI” in big red marker and underlined it, and it said that there was one today. Apparently, there is also one tomorrow, which is lame.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Anyways, because everyone is having tests, I should have the whole day free, but I don’t because somehow the 1<sup>st</sup> years don’t have tests, and anyways, the rest of the students have classes in the afternoon, so I have period 5 and 6. But anyhow, I had to help Shigeki-sensei with the listening test again during first period. all went well, but for some mysterious reason, the hot teacher who never talks to me was watching over us in the broadcasting room the whole time… random.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">I started feeling sick again by the middle of the afternoon, so I left after 6<sup>th</sup> period, making some excuse to Kyoto-sensei.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Friday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Woke up with my head pounding and called in sick.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">sorry it wasn’t a very exciting week…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-35276536644239589292011-06-16T23:16:00.001-07:002011-06-16T23:16:55.119-07:00Week of June 13 to 17<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Monday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Excerpt from family papers I had the 1<sup>st</sup> years write. Mizuki from 1-7:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">“This is my father, Hiroshi. He is a mother fan.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Meaning her father loves her mother. cute!!!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 1-7 was good, but my activity was just way too short and we ended up with a bunch of free time at the end… Aoshima-sensei just had them get started on their homework, but I thought it was a bit lame… One funny bit… after the game, Eitaro hadn’t gotten a sticker and he was pestering me for one. Since he’s always asking me to sing, I told him that if he sang me a song, I’d give him a sticker. He was like “nan ko?” (basically “how many will you give me?”) and I said one, and he sat there pondering it very seriously while his girlfriends were all laughing at him. And then he bursts out into the Japanese national anthem. rotfl!! And he went on for quite a while before I made him stop and gave him a sticker. Cutest thing ever. And then as the girl next to him is going “iiii naaaa” (basically she’s jealous), I hear him tell her “well go on then, you just have to sing a song and she’ll give you one too!” all matter-of-factly. lol. She never did though.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Then it was sentaku class with 3-3 and I’m doing a song by Simple Plan this week. It was a ballad too so it would be slower and they could catch the words more easily. But I guess the expressions were kinda difficult to understand. Well anyhow, even though a lot of kids did really well on the listening quiz (finally!), it kinda bombed and it made me a bit sad. They said they didn’t like the song, and that the band wasn’t cool. :(</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">After that it was the same lesson with 3-6 and Mizushima-sensei, which went down better, but they did worse on the quiz. At least they said they liked the song. I dunno what those kids did last weekend, but half of them were falling asleep on their desks. It was a bit depressing.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">After I got back to the staffroom, shigeki sensei came over to tell me, in a very stressed voice (like, he is pissed but trying not to show it) that I should’ve shown him the handout before class because there were very many difficult words and he didn’t know how to translate them. It wasn’t that big a deal, honestly, nobody would judge you for not speaking English well because you don’t know the meaning to metaphors in pop songs… seriously! But no, his pride was all wounded and he was pissed. Fine, I’ll give you one next time, but I only finished the handout this morning so it’s not like I could’ve given it to him earlier anyhow. Besides, it’s the 3<sup>rd</sup> lesson that I do that has the EXACT SAME PATTERN. How was I to guess that he would get pissed this time when the last two were fine? *sigh* oh well. It just rubbed me the wrong way… I mean, these lessons are the only free reign I have at all in my pitiful life as an ALT so, FUCK OFF!! (Yeah, I’m cranky…)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">lol. My kyouto-sensei (vice-principal) is really funny. But he’s really sarcastic-funny, which is VERY rare amongst Japanese people… since most of them wouldn’t know sarcasm if it hit them in the face… conversation between me and kyouto-sensei:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">(Note before you read, the post office is right behind the school)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Me: kyouto-sensei, can a go to the post office for a little bit?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">KY: itterasshai (Japanese expression, means “go and come back”)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Me: ok</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">KY: Be careful. cuz, you know, it’s really far. How many minutes does it take? Really far. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Me: (laughing) yes sir. ittekimasu! (What you answer to “itterashai”. Means “I’m going but I’ll come back”)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">I dunno… was it funny? I thought it was funny… I guess you had to be there. Also, I guess I get happy when I can have conversations in Japanese with people here… it happens so rarely.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">After school, when I’d almost gotten home after getting off the train, I ran into 2 of my ex-students, Doi and Yuka… they were super excited to see me, but although we were walking towards each other, and I thought I recognized Doi for a bit, I wasn’t sure until they were really close and I waved at them and they went “yappa!” (I knew it!) and Yuka was like “yeah, we recognized you from waaaaaaaay over there and were wondering if you were gonna recognize us!” aww… of course. we chatted for a bit – there was another girl with them who wasn’t one of my ex-students and she looked kinda bored, but she did tell them a few time “eigo sugoi”, which made me wonder how much English SHE could speak, because both girls were talking to me in a terrible mixture of butchered English and Japanese…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Tuesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Today I have 5 classes. I’m gonna die. I just want this day to be over…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt 5.25pt; mso-char-indent-count: -.5; text-indent: -5.25pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">First period with 2-2 went well. But now I can’t remember anything that happened… except that the fat kid who smells like pee was absent, so I could stand by the window and it was actually pleasant. (I kid you not, there is a fat kid who smells like pee, and it’s terrible cuz no one is doing anything about it… but when he’s there the whole class smells FOUL). </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt 5.25pt; mso-char-indent-count: -.5; text-indent: -5.25pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt 5.25pt; mso-char-indent-count: -.5; text-indent: -5.25pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Anyways, then it was class with 2-1, and I went in there right after first period cuz I didn’t wanna go back downstairs, and Wataru was sleeping on his desk. I went over and sat at the desk in front of him and put my head on my arms like an inch away from his face. He opened his eyes sleepily and saw me looking at him and went “oooh, bikkurishita!” (oh, I’m surprised!) but super quietly and sleepily… kaaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!! and then he went back to sleep. lol. I swear if I ever have babies, I want them to look just like him cuz he is so darling adorable! Oh, and later on he came to show me that he was reading Snoopy comics, and that they were in English, but with Japanese translations, eheh. Class itself was normal. Actually, they were much more well-behaved than usual. Rei was spewing answers at me the whole time. lol. Ayumu kept making me hit him with his pen… he must have M tendencies….</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">And guess what? My big 5 class day turned into… 2 classes! And I’m done! I’m a little bit freaked out cuz, seriously, how did that happened? Apparently there is a mysterious schedule change (that everyone but me knew about) because there’s going to be a demo lesson for BoE people during 4<sup>th</sup> period. And also, there’s no 6<sup>th</sup> period today. Huh…. I guess, I am super happy about it, cuz I did not have the energy for 5 classes today, but it’s like some kind of awesome miracle, and whenever does that happen??? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Plus my kids are totally digging my sideways braid today. I’m hearing way more “kawaii”s than usual :p</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Wednesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Morning. Today was the weekly morning meeting, and man… it was weird. first, they said congratulations to this one teacher who just had a baby, and he was all happy and stuff… then Kouchou-sensei made this speech, that I didn’t really understand except that it involved some guy who died of drunk driving (I think)… I’m not quite sure what the point of the story was, except he was crying and the room was dead quiet, and it was just kinda awkward for me cuz I had no idea what was going on. After that, they introduced a new teacher, who will apparently teach swimming to the kids. First, wtf do we need a special swimming teacher for?? And second, he’s all old and gangly, and it’s creeping me out that is job is watching little kids in swimming clothes… :/<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>but whatever. Anyhow. Off for a busy morning of 1<sup>st</sup> year classes!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 1-1 was fun although nothing really memorable happened. Except at the beginning of the class, this little girl was passing out the name-cards and she went “Kaishi-tte dare?” (who is Kaishi) but she was misreading the name that said “Kaisei” and he’s the first boy in front, so both me and the girl next to him went like “that’s Kaisei!” pointing to him. Then I added, “Kaisei is the most popular boy in AAA-shou” (AAA-elementary school) and he waved his hand “no, no, no!” and the girl next to him debated that Daiki was (which really surprised me). So I said (in Japanese) “oh really? I remember in Grade 5, when all the girls were ‘Kaisei! Kaisei!’ all the time”, and I laughed and he went beet red. CUTIE pie!! Honestly, that’s why he is one of the only 1<sup>st</sup> years whose name I remember. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but recently, there is a teacher, Miwako-sensei, (I don’t even know what subject she teaches) who is the homeroom teacher for 3-1, who comes and asks me to check the diary or this one girl who decided she was gonna write her diary in English. In case you don’t know, JHS students here have to write a diary (in Japanese) every day, that their homeroom teacher looks at and… well I’m not quite sure what they do with it. I guess it’s to keep a link with the students in their homeroom. I think it’s quite a good idea. Anyways, Miwako-sensei is this really cute little woman, and every time she comes up to me, she goes all shyly “Vanessa….. kyou mou, onegaishimasu” (today too, please) and it just kinda makes me smile.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">During class with 1-2, Yuka just basically needed to use the whole class and I just helped her out and it was chill. The kids had to write a small text, introducing one of their friends, and they all had pictures, and so it was fun looking at their pictures. One of the boys was introducing Eitaro! and so I told him “I love Eitaro!!! I am an Eitaro fan!” and they all just burst out laughing, they thought it was hilarious. One of the girls mentioned something about a “rival” but I have no idea if she meant that I had a rival for Eitaro’s love, or that Eitaro was now the rival of some other kid, because I was needed elsewhere. Still. It was funny. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Also, Yuka asked me to try and go probe this one girl to work. She told me she was a problem student, and that she (the kid) hated her (Yuka) and never listened to her no matter what she did. So I went and tried to coax the little girl to work, and I failed :/<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>To be honest, it’s kinda hard to have these kinds of interventions when your j-skills are shit. But I was like “don’t you have your picture? I really wanna hear your story” and she was sulking to my face but then she started looking for her picture, and another kid needed my help. At the end of the class, she still hadn’t done fuck all. After class Yuka asked me “so?” and I shook my head and she sighed. She told me that something was wrong with the girl and that she had met her mom and her mom had said she’d taken her to a mental hospital. Really? wtf?! I mean, sure, she might be a bit slow in her social growth or whatever, but there is nothing retarded about that kid. Again, it baffles me how Japanese society doesn’t know how to deal with anything psychological… or learning disabilities and stuff… *sigh*</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oh!!! When I got to the station after school, there was a girl in a purple t-shirt chilling there and when she saw me, she ran over and squealed “VANESSA!” I recognized Yume, one of my best girls from two years ago (even though she went “Yume! Yume! Remember me?”) and I was so excited to see her that I gave her a great big hug. Which is totally not normal for Japan. lol. If it was any other kid it might’ve been weird, but since Yume is such a genki girl she kinda laughed and hugged me back (a bit awkwardly, but still). I asked how was school and she said she was going to the one nearby, but that she was going on an exchange to the States for a year from this coming July! I was so excited for her! and I was so happy to see her and she was so happy to see me. It’s moments like this that actually make my life awesome. Totally brightened my day.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Thursday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Ok, I wrote on my facebook this morning “Today, I have 5 classes for real!” but, hum… I guess not? I was just told that my first period class was changed to 6<sup>th</sup> period… I’m supposed to have class with 2-6 on 6<sup>th</sup> period, but apparently that doesn’t get switched to replace 1<sup>st</sup> period cuz it’s only my class and one class taught by kyouto-sensei that got switched? I’m so confused with these random schedule changes that I’m not told about. Even for my school, this is a LOT, and it’s weird. But hey, I’m not gonna complain on having 1<sup>st</sup> period off!! and 4 classes are better than five! XD</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">3<sup>rd</sup> period with 2-4 was ok, with minimal annoyance from Masaya…. I think ignoring him works well on him… once he’s calmed down, I’ll be his friend again. Then it was 4<sup>th</sup> period with 3-4, and I dunno. It was weird. I mean, they were better behaved and more communicative than they have been in the previous music lessons, but more than half of them didn’t bother trying to answer the quiz or find the missing words. And it wasn’t THAT hard since many kids in other classes have said this lesson was easier. They seemed to like the song though. Also, Bad Ryota was singing. lol. Some made-up Japanese words, but he was singing along to the beat and it was funny.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oh, and on the way to 2-4, I ran into the kids from 1-1 going to their music class, and got another proof that Johnny has a crush on me…. I was walking along with some kids, and when they saw me they went “Soma! Soma!!” (that’s Jhonny’s name) to make him turn around so he would look at me being there. When he did, they all giggled and he made this face like he pretended it wasn’t a big deal. pwah! Cute. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">During class with 1-5, I learned that Akane (the kid who greeted me by showing me her ViViD pictures on the first day) was Ayane’s sister! (again, parents… a golf clap for originality in naming your kids…) Ayame was the only kid who liked VK in school for the last two years… me and her used to chat about Alice9 and I’m actually the one who made her discover ViViD cuz she didn’t know them before. I guess it makes sense that her kid sister likes VK too then. She was like “sensei! How do you write visual kei?” lol.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Then in class with 3-5, it was okay but they were kinda listless… Kazuma was sleeping on his desk the WHOLE time, and grunted “not another music lesson!” when he saw me taking out my ipod at the beginning of the class. Well first of all, I TOLD you all that sentaku classes were gonna be music for the WHOLE YEAR. (I guess he was sleeping when I said that too) and my music lessons are cool!! *sulks* Anyways, after class was over he woke up yawning and I was like “did you sleep well?” and he nodded with a huge sleepy grin. Later, he was washing his face at the taps or something and I was like “you’re ALWAYS sleeping!” and he just nodded and grinned this super cute smile at me! aaaargh! I can’t hate on him when he is being cute, dammit! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oh yeah, and during class, again, all the students giggled when I said “Sebastien”, introducing the band members, so I finally asked “ok, what’s so funny?!” (cuz it had happened in every single class) and apparently there is a character called Sebastian in Doraemon… who knew? ;p</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Friday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Morning! Today shall be very relaxed so I’m quite happy about it. The schedule is all crazy again so I shall have one class – maybe two. But I’m not sure about the first one cuz the schedule says 1nensei have no class today, but then I checked in one class yesterday and it was only 3<sup>rd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> period. Bah. I’m just gonna sit here and see if someone comes to tell me that I should be somewhere else :p</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Huuuh… guess what… I guess I have no classes today! I just went to see Mizushima-sensei and he asked me to please not come again… I guess it’s kinda bad cuz it’s the second week in a row but… whatever. I know the tests are coming up next week and they are stressed. meh.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Well it’s now past 3pm and I can tell you that absolutely nothing exciting happened today. Bah. On to the weekend!!!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1356981068179019231.post-369519030393698272011-06-09T23:04:00.001-07:002011-06-09T23:04:43.144-07:00Week of June 6 - 10<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Monday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Urgh… sooo sleepy today!! had a very eventful weekend – in which I didn’t get much sleep – so I would kinda rather be in my bed right now, but whatever. Gaman! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">First period was 1-6 with Yuka, and we did the “guess who” game. They are the first class to have guessed that the picture in the middle was me. Good on them! Then, when we got to Avril Lavigne pictures, they were chatting with each other going “maybe this is Vanessa’s sister?” lol. Bless. Also there was one kid who was REALLY excited that there was a Pikachu picture in there, but he likes Kirby more, and he told me that next time, I should include a picture of Kirby. lol.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Second period was 2-4, and in my tired state, I was kinda dreading it, considering how insane Masaya had been last week. Sure enough when I walked into the class he made a big show of going “oh no!!”, but mostly I just ignored him (ok, I admit it, I threatened to throttle him a few times) and it was fine. I got kinda pissed at Shigeki-sensei for translating everything I was saying, because honestly, what is the fucking point of a listening activity if you’re just gonna translate it all?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Then, third period was 3-1 and I showed up to class to have the kids tell me that English was 4<sup>th</sup> period. Sweet! I thought, I can sit down and rest. so I went back to the staff room, fetched some coffee and got ready to settle down when Hasegawa sensei came to see me saying we had class, and there was a big commotion with some of the other 3<sup>rd</sup> year teachers, and it turns out the kids had just written the schedule down wrong and we did have class. Well fuck. False hope. So I trudged on back upstairs for class, which was boring and uneventful except for Ikuto acting the clown. He’s less creepy these days and more funny, which is good. At the end of the class, Minami asked me if I went to see Golden Bomber at the local mall. I said no, but I wondered why she was asking me cuz it’s kinda random since she doesn’t like Visual Kei. Then she told me her high school friend likes them and showed me the birthday card she was making for her. We chatted and Nao was there too so I asked her if she was excited about the new Harry Potter movie coming out soon, and of course she said yes, but Minami butted-in saying she wanted to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean’s and I said I wanted to see Paradise Kiss. I told them I’d read the manga when I was younger and Minami went “eeeeeeeh...! manga yomeru?!” (you can read manga?!) and I explained that I read it in English, and she was just completely baffled that there was such a thing as English Japanese manga. lol. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Tuesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Morning! I am sooo sleepy today again, seriously. wtf. I even have an eye twitch. Although to be honest I’ve had it for at least 3 weeks now and I have no idea why. Anyhow, today shouldn’t be so bad, I have only 3 classes. Supposed to have 4 but during 2<sup>nd</sup> period, the student teacher (whom I haven’t mentioned because he looks like an uber nerd, is super shy,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>and hasn’t even said 3 words to me) is going to be teaching the lesson, and I don’t need to be there. Also, most likely, my being there would probably freak him out, so I am GLAD to oblige and not show up.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 1-7 was fun! They are a really cute group of kids. I had them write a mini speech about their family and draw a picture. They know almost nothing so it’s really hard for them. They had to write something like “this is my mother, Natsuko. She is a Matsujun fan” or something… anyways, at first it was really quiet in the classroom, but then they started chatting and the vibe got really good. One kid, Ryunosuke, who is a funny brat and I taught him in elementary school, asked me how to write “I am my own fan”, lol. One kid wrote “this is my sister, she is a money fan”, that made me laugh. Then when I was explaining something to this one girl, with my head kinda bent over her paper, I looked up to see the kid sitting in front of her, with her face an inch away from my head, trying to pluck my bangs or something. She flashed me a huge embarrassed smile and she went “konnichiwa!” like, super politely. I laughed and turned back to the other girl and I turn around and she’s doing it again! and then she goes to her friend “sugoi, kinpatsu!” (basically “wow, it’s so blonde!”) It was cute :p then later Eitaro and the girl next to him were talking in Japanese and wondering if you could say “I am a –person’s name– fan” and I butted-in going “sure, Eitaro is a Vanessa fan” and the girl laughed, and he said “itsu kara?” (since when?) and I answered “ima kara” (since now) and he laughed. Then I added “I am an Eitaro fan” and they all went “eeeeeh?!” and I ruffled his hair and went “cuz he’s so damn cute!” and all the girls laughed going “kawaii! kawaii!!” In Japan, boys usually don’t like being told they’re kawaii. It’s more of an adjective used for girls and undermines their manliness or something… not that there is anything manly whatsoever about Eitaro though… he’s so wittle!! *kyaa!* :p</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Oh, and then on the way out of class, these two little girls were kinda walking behind me, giggling and I turned around and told them “I’m so sleeeeepy!” and they both nodded and one of the girls went “me mo” It totally cracked me up! “Me” was English, and “mo” was Japanese for “too”, so she’d just spewed her answer in half Japanese/half English. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Something funny happened during class with 3-2 (besides Daisuke incessantly trying to dry his pants… because apparently Imari had dropped water on him or something….) when I went over to try and help Ayumi with her diary entry. She just wrote “these days, I’ve been very sad” and I’m trying to explain to her that she has to write “why” and she tells me “kareshi wa... tsumetai” (my boyfriend is cold) and at first I’m like “oh, he’s not nice”, but then I’m thinking “oh, you can use “cold” to mean the same thing in English too”, so I say it to her. At the same time, Daisuke and Ayane, the row behind her, are being loud and laughing and he’s written on his paper that he’s happy cuz he has a new girlfriend. I get confused and think they are talking about Daisuke, so I ask “he’s cold? Daisuke is cold?” and Ayane goes “No! He’s hot! Very very hot!” and Ayumi nods and I just burst out laughing. But apparently I laughed out so loud and so suddenly that everybody else in the room just stopped talking and turned to look at me. Hasegawa-sensei even turned to look at me and asked why I was laughing, but it was a bit difficult to explain on the spot right there so I said I’d tell her later (which I did). After class, I went to see Daisuke and explained to him that saying a boy was “hot” in English meant “sexy”, and that’s not the meaning they were aiming for :p </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Class with 2-6 was funny. and man, when they repeat after me, they are fucking screaming out the words! lol. I guess it’s because they got scolded last time, but it’s still kinda weird, considering that some classes you have to coax them into even doing it at all… at the end of the class, there wasn’t enough time for them to do the pair work, so I just told them that as a group, they should give me directions to draw a funny picture on the board, and they were pretty good at it! Afterwards, when I was walking down the hallway, Kazunari greeted me loudly and then he went “hello, Tanessa!” and I’m like “Tanessa? is that my new name?” and he went “yes!” and Daiyu, who was running in the hallway, on some errand just repeated “yes!” as he ran, and Kazunari laughed, and mumbled in Japanese that he (Daiyu) didn’t even know what we were talking about…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Wednesday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Super sleepy again this morning. You know you are sleepy when you open your shoe locker and go “wtf, why are there already shoes in my locker?!” before you realize that they’re your own inside shoes… yeaaaah…. let’s get these classes over with quickly!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">First period with 1-1 was fun. I think we can safely dub Mr. Johnny my new perv! Although not really, cuz he is super sweet, and my old pervs weren’t sweet, they were just pervy and unsubtle. But yeah, he was always staring at me the whole time, and calling me over to ask me random questions, and then when I mentioned another kid’s sister was “a Vanessa fan”, he went “Vanessa fan!” and I asked him “are you?” and he was like “Yes! No, no… he is Vanessa fan!” pointing to his friend. His friend then pointed to him and went “he is body fan”. LOL! Hilarious. Then later, I was helping this kid in front of them and I could hear them talking about (bra) cup sizes and I turned glanced over at them and smiled and one kid went “oh shit, she heard us!” and at that I turned my head and stared fixedly at him and he went “kowai!” (scary!) lol. So I asked him “I’m kowai?” and he said “yes!” giving me the thumbs up. As I walked away and I heard him arguing with his friend, “no, cute! cute!” lol. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Also, Daiki (who used to be a huge brat in elementary school… and still is) was especially pleasant and chatty, and seemed to really enjoy me saying that I really hated AKB48… he also asked me if I knew Greeeen! and how many e’s there were in the band’s name, and then he was all impressed when I said there were 4 e’s cuz there were four members in the name… yeah, I learned that last year doing research for a pop-culture game… lol! Oh, and also, Kaisei has a dog named Queue. In Japanese they call her “kuu” but since he knows I speak French, he asked me wait it meant and I said it meant “tail” (also I kinda giggled because in Quebec, it’s slang for “cock” but I didn’t tell him that, obviously…) and then he was all disconcerted, and the girl next to him was laughing, saying the dog was “kawaisou” (basically means “poor dog!”).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Second period was with 2-1, my favorites with the minis, and it was kinda funny cuz Masaki, this super delicate, adorably cute, quiet boy, was made to stand up and read the dialogue with his friend, and he really didn’t want to, and when he was reading he was so super shy and kept rubbing his throat all delicately, and read in a quiet, super high-pitched voice, stopping intermittently to giggle quietly. Poor thing!!!! But the whole time I just wanted to squeal “KAWAIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!” and go give him a hug cuz he was so darn adorable! The rest of the class was just normal fun, except Ayumu kept pestering me and demanding my attention… (although I guess that’s now become normal…) Then while I was explaining something, I looked up at him and jumped back squealing, cuz he’d turned his eyelid inside out and it was super gross. and then of course he laughed at me.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Coming down the stairs after class, I ran into Imari and some other boys, and of course he went “hello, Vanessa!” with a cheerful smile and I said hi back. Then I noticed he had bandages on his wrists and I asked “what’s that?!” and he explained to me that he had injured himself trying to do a handstand. ouch! granted he has bony little limpy wrists, but P.E. in Japan is HARSH! I remember how much I hated P.E. when I was in school (being a fat kid and all) and it’s NOTHING compared to what these kids have to do! I would really hate to be a fat kid in Japan… especially when they start training for sports day….</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">4<sup>th</sup> period was with 1-3 and it went well but was uneventful. Just before, when I was on my way there, all the kids from 1-1 passed me, going to art class, and Daiki went “YEAH!” and raised his hand, so I gave him a high-five and a bunch of them laughed. Seeing that, a few steps behind, Johnny did the same thing, and was all chuffed when I gave him a high-five too. Now, after class, I ran into them again, coming back, and seeing them coming, I see/hear Johnny’s friends go “look, look, it’s Vanessa, come on, come on…” and he raised his hand again so I just slapped it and he grinned like an idiot… lol. Having a 12y.o. in love with you is funny.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Sometimes I love the school nurse. She has the most annoying voice, is ugly as fuck, and very often inappropriate, but every so often, she just randomly tells me how nice I look. I just ran into her, coming out of the toilets and she went “Vanessa, recently, you’ve gotten so slender!” (and there is obviously something wrong with her eyes, because I have GAINED weight recently, but whatever, I’ll take it!) and then she goes on “and your face is all thin… and your skin’s so pretty too… sugoii!” (and obviously I’m translating for your benefit here cuz the nurse doesn’t speak a word of English, but…) LOL! Hey… flattery is never turned down!!! ^___^</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Thursday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Okay, WHY is there a morning meeting this morning? There was one yesterday!!! I showed up to school at my normal time, and I couldn’t even fucking get in cuz of all the 1<sup>st</sup> year teachers had chairs in front of the door… grrr… now I look late and stupid. Moreover, it’s really hot this morning and I’m sweating like a pig. Actually, scratch that, it’s not hot. It’s only about 26C outside, but it is ridiculously humid. Also, that makes me the only person sweating, while everybody else is going “samui”…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">1<sup>st</sup> period was class with 1-2, nothing much happened… except that I played the game with this one little boy, who looked really “slow”, but he totally understood how to play it, so it made me really happy ^_^ also this one kid, Youhei, is really genki and cute ^_^ it’s always weird with the 1<sup>st</sup> graders because it takes a really long time for me to a) remember their names and b) notice any kind of personality in them, because (with a few exceptions) they are all so similar.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">And holy shit, did the hot teacher just say good morning to me?! Like, with no prompting?? Where the fuck did that come from?! He never talks to me!! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Had 4<sup>th</sup> period with 3-4, and they were their usual unresponsive self, although better behaved than usual. Bad Ryota did fuck all, even when prompted, and had this big bandage on his hand like he’d broken a finger. Shiomi-kun was actually polite to me, and Ryouga was actually good, reminding me of his old self. It’s kinda funny cuz his eyes lit up when I said I’d give stickers to people who had written a good text, and then he started working really hard. awww…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">5<sup>th</sup> period went fine, and 6<sup>th</sup> period with 3-6 was uneventful except that one of the soccer boys (I am bad and can’t remember his name) kept fussing with his shoulder the whole time, cuz they’d had P.E. before, and every time I’d be looking at him, he’d look up and stare at me and I would break into giggles. I swear it happened like 15 times or something. Retarded. Maybe he has a “Vanessa-is-looking-at-me” radar like Ichiro used to have… ooh, you guys don’t know Ichiro, he was one of my favorite kids to graduate two years ago. He had this “radar” to know whenever I happened to be looking at him, even – say – in a gym full of 600 kids, and his head would flip around to stare at me. lol. Anyhow, so that was my entertainment while they were doing their stupid test paper, and then after, I was having them write a diary entry and they had to write “I’ve been tired” or “I’ve been busy” or something like that, and I’m walking around and notice that Taisei has written “These days, I’ve been sad” on his paper. and I’m like “why are you sad?” and he goes on to explaining that he’s sad because he had to cut his hear, and I just broke into laughter. Taisei is the soccer boy with the most “fashionable” hair. It’s longish and styled in a mini Mohawk on the top and shaved on one side… anyways, I know that some sports team in Japan have a thing where, when they lose a game, they have to cut their hair. It’s especially evil for the soccer boys, since they are so vain. Anyways, I went “oh, cuz you lost a game?” and he nodded and Hasegawa-sensei was all surprised cuz she didn’t know about that tradition. After the bell rang, Taisei was still talking about his hair and I went “soccer boys loooooove their hair! like girls!” and he laughed.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;"><strong>Friday</strong></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">wwwwtf??! My school loooves randomly messing with the schedule for no valid reason (I mean, I know there are reasons, but honestly, they’re very stupid…) and so every week there are random schedule changes here and there, and after 3 years here I know enough to notice them on the board even though I can’t read much Japanese, and so I’m usually ahead of things. This morning, 1<sup>st</sup> period is changed to 5<sup>th</sup> period schedule. On my schedule, it says I should have class with 1-5, 5<sup>th</sup> period, so it means I should have 1-5 now. Fine, I go there and the two student teachers for social studies are there, the kids all have their social studies books out, and oh look, it says “social studies” on their schedule board. Huh? I guess I’m not meant to be here. So I go back to the staffroom, take out my weekly class schedule, and check – but no, there it is, 1-5, 5<sup>th</sup> period. wtf? Maybe it was some special change for the student teachers but hum… thanks for telling me!!!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">Anyhow, I don’t really mind cuz it means I went from having 4 back-to-back classes this morning to a free period and then 3 classes. It’s kinda awesome. I just wish I coulda known in advance, eh? oh well…</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">I had class with 2-2, but I can’t remember…. In class with 3-3, I was talking with some of the girls at the back, and one of the girls had a hello kitty charm on her pencil case. I said it was cute and asked what it was for, and she explained it was for school, for helping with your studies. I asked if they’d gotten good grades since getting them (the other girl in front also had one) and they started shaking their heads energetically, going “totally!! it’s so working!!” lol. As if your silly charm is giving you better grades. You’re just studying harder! Still, I thought it was cute. :p also, Koudai CRACKS ME UP because he keeps wriggling his eyebrows at me like he’s hitting on me… it’s totally not a Japanese thing so I dunno if he’s aware of what he’s doing… I think he isn’t and it keeps making me laugh everytime he does it… lol.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Century;">anyhow, 4<sup>th</sup> period was supposed to be 2-5, but I went up to Mizushima-sensei and he told me that, since they were behind, I should “please not come”. yay!! Another free class! This day is turning out great! Oh and, speaking of which, there was natto in the school lunch today… which made me groan and grumble as I went to fetch my lunch tray. As I’m leaving, Domoto-sensei walks into the kitchen and sees my abandoned natto pack and goes “you’re not eating it?” laughing, knowing obviously that I never eat the fucking natto. anyways, I walk back into the staffroom (through the far door cuz it’s near my desk, and Domoto-sensei’s already back inside and he’s given the natto to another teacher, who apparently loves it. said teacher is so happy that he gives me his frozen jelly in exchange. wtf?! yay! ^_^</span></span></div></div>kawaii_candienoreply@blogger.com1